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15X1 

.02 


KEY    TO    THE    STUDY    OF  GAELIC. 


LESSON  1. 

THE  ALPHABET. 

The  Gaelic  Alphabet  is  composed  of  seventeen 
letters,  Avliich,  "with  their  sounds  and  equivalents,  are 
as  follow :  — 


Caps 

Small 

Sound 

A 

ft. 

CI  W 

B 

b 

bav 

c 

kay 

D 

d 

dliay 

E 

e 

ay 

F 

f 

eff 

G 

g 

'gay 

I 

i 

ee 

L 

1 

ell 

M 

m 

emm 

N 

n 

enn 

0 

0 

oh 

P 

P 

pay 

R 

r 

arr 

S 

s 

ess 

T 

t 

thay 

U 

u 

00 

2 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


The  letter  A,  strange  to  say,  is  not  reckoned  as  a  letter 
of  the  Gaelic  alphabet,  although  its  aspirate  sound  is  pre- 
valent in  the  language,  and  the  letter  itself  very  exten- 
sively used  in  writing.  It  is  employed  in  the  following- 
connections. 

1.  To  prevent  a  hiatus  between  two  vowels ;  as  na 
h-aingil^  the  angels ;  na  h-Sigse^  the  poets.  In  this  posi- 
tion it  is  separated  by  a  hyphen,  to  show  that  it  forms 
no  part  of  the  following  word. 

2.  To  affect  or  change  the  radical  sound  of  a  con- 
sonant. Tliis  power  of  h  is  well  illustrated  in  English. 
Take,  for  example,  the  sound  of  c  in  curl^  compare  it  with 
the  sound  of  c  in  churls  and  mark  the  difference.  The 
sound  of  s  in  sock  is  not  identical  with  the  sound  of  s  in 
shock.  The  sound  of  p  in  pant  differs  from  the  sound  of 
p  in  phantom ;  and  the  sound  of  g  in  rug  differs  from  the 
sound  of  g  in  rough,  etc.  Tliis  influence  of  h  upon  a  con- 
sonant is  called  "aspiration."  There  are  in  Gaelic  nine 
consonants  —  b,  c,  d,  f,  g,  m,  p,  s,  t, —  each  of  which  is 
susceptible  of  having  its  radical  sound  aspirated  b}^  the 
influence  of  an  h  placed  immediately  after  it.  But  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  effect  of  h  upon  any  par- 
ticular consonant  in  Gaelic  is  not  alwaj'-s  identical  with 
the  effect  of  h  upon  the  same  consonant  in  English. 

The  letter  h  is  never  used  as  an  independent  consonant 
in  Gaelic.  Even  in  English  where  it  is  so  used,  it  can  be 
shown  to  be  only  the  corrupt  form  of  another  consonant. 

The  Letters — Their  Di\asiON  A.n^d  Classification. 

The  letters  of  the  alphabet  are  divided  into  two  classes 
known  as  vowels  and  consonants.  The  vowels  are  five  in 
number;  namely,  a,  o,  u,  e,  i.  There  are  twelve  con- 
sonants;  viz.,  b,  c,  d,  f,  g,  1,  m,  n,  p,  r,  s,  t. 


ORTHOGRAPHY 


3 


The  Vowels  And  Their  Sounds. 

A  vowel  is  a  pure  vocal  sound ;  and  as  a  sound  of  the 
voice  may  be  either  long  or  short,  every  one  of  the  five 
vowels,  therefore,  has  two  sounds ;  viz.,  the  long  sound 
and  the  short  sound.  When  a  vowel  is  long  it  is  gene- 
rally distinguished  by  having  an  acute  accent  mark  ( ' ) 
placed  over  it,  thus  a,  6,  u,  e,  i.  When  no  such  accent 
mark  is  placed  over  a  vowel  it  is  understood  to  be  short 
in  sound. 

SOUNDS  OF  the  VOWELS  WHEN  LONG. 


a  (long)  sounds  like  a  in  fall;    as  "bas,"  death. 

6                 "       "  (?      "  old;     as  "mor,"  great, 

u                 "       "             "  rule;    as  "ur,"  fresh, 

e                  "  e  where;  as  "ere,"  clay. 

1                  "        "  ee     "  green;  as  "mm,"  fine. 

SOUNDS  OF  THE  VOWELS  WHEN  SHORT. 

a  (short)  sounds  like  a  in  hat;      as  "gas,"  stalk. 

0  44  4t  ^  4;  mo^/ier;  as  "cos,"  foot, 
u  "  "  16  "  full;  as  "tur,"  raw. 
e                 "       "  e  "  met;      as  "ceil,"  deny. 

1  "       "  i  "  hit;       as  "mil,"  honey. 


TWO  CLASSES  OF  VOWELS. 

The  five  vowels  (whether  long  or  short)  are  divided 
into  two  classes,  known  as  hroad  vowels  and  slender 
vowels.  The  broad  vowels  are  a,  o,  u.  The  slender 
vowels  are  e,  i. 

The  Consonants  And  Their  Sounds. 

A  consonant  is  distinguishable  from  a  vowel  in  this 
respect:  that  a  vowel  is  a  pure,  independent  sound  of 
the  voice,  and  a  consonant  does  not  admit  of  being 


4 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


uttered  without  the  aid  of  a  vowel.  A  consonant  by  itself 
has  no  sound  properly  so  called,  but  it  always  derives  its 
sound  from  the  vowel  with  which  it  is  written.  The  very 
meaning  of  the  name  (from  the  Latin  con,  with  or  together 
and  sonus,  a  sound)  shows  this.  Its  office  is  to  be  sounded 
with,  or  offer  a  certain  kind  of  resistance  to,  the  vowel 
sound,  thus  forming  a  pleasing  articulation  or  sort  of 
stepping-stone  for  the  organs  of  speech. 

The  consonant  being  thus  dependent  upon  the  vowel  for 
its  own  sound,  gives  rise  to  two  distinct  sounds  of  the 
consonant  itself,  corresponding  to  the  two  classes  of 
vowels  termed  broad  and  slender.  Thus  when  a  con- 
sonant is  written  with  any  of  the  broad  vowels,  a,  o,  u, 
it  will  have  a  hf'oad  sound,  and  when  written  w^ith  either 
of  the  slender  vowels,  e,  i,  it  will  have  a  slender  sound. 
In  this  manner  each  consonant  has  two  distinct  sounds; 
viz.,  the  BROAD  SOUND  and  the  slendee  sound,  accord- 
ing as  it  is  written  with  a  broad  or  a  slender  vowel. 

The  difference  between  the  broad  and  slender  sound  of 
any  consonant  is  ver}^  slight,  but  it  forms  an  important 
factor  in  the  orthography  of  the  language.  Tliis  differ- 
ence may  be  easily  noticed  by  taking  each  one  of  the 
consonants  and  pronouncing  it,  first  in  conjunction  ^vith 
the  three  broad  vowels,  a,  o,  u,  and  next  with  the  slender 
vowels,  e,  i,  in  the  following  order :  — 


SLENDER.  BROAD.  SLENDER. 


BROAD. 

ba  bo  bu 

ca  CO  cu 

da  do  dti 

fa  fo  fu 

ga  go  gu 

la  16  lu 


be  bi 

ce  ci 

de  di 

fe  fi 

le  If 


ma  mo  mu 
na  no  nu 
pa  p6  pu 
ra  ro  ru 
sa  so  su 
ta    to  tu 


me  mf 
n^  ni 
pi 

r6  ri 

se  SI 
te  tf 


ORTHOGKAPHY. 


5 


This  influence  of  the  vowel  upon  the  consonant  is  per- 
ceptible to  a  certain  extent  in  every  language,  but  scarcely 
any  language  exists  in  wliich  the  distinction  between  broad 
and  slender  is  so  marked  and  perfect  as  in  Gaelic.  In 
English  the  vowels  e  and  i  have  a  special  effect  upon  some 
of  the  consonants ;  as,  for  instance,  the  sound  of  c  in  cur- 
tain is  quite  different  from  the  sound  of  c  in  certain:  the 
one  being  ''hard,"  like  A:,  and  the  other  "soft,"  like  s; 
and  the  sound  of  g  in  log  differs  from  the  sound  of  g  in 
logic:  the  one  being  termed  "hard"  and  the  other  "soft," 
like  y.  Tliis  complete  change  of  the  sound  of  c  and  g  in 
English  is  due  to  the  influence  of  the  slender  vowels  e  and 
i  following  them.  In  Gaelic,  however,  though  every  con- 
sonant has  a  decided  slender  sound  as  distinguished  from 
its  broad  sound,  no  consonant  changes  its  sound  to  that  of 
another  (as  the  c  and  g  sometimes  do  in  English):  but, 
on  the  contraiy,  every  consonant  retains  its  individual 
characteristic  in  passing  from  broad  to  slender.  Of  all 
the  consonants  the  letter  s  shows  the  most  marked  differ- 
ence bet^veen  its  broad  and  slender  sound,  being  sounded 
like  s  in  Boon  when  broad  and  like  sli  in  M'p  when  slender. 

THE  CONSONANT  SOUNDS  ILLUSTKATED. 

B,  broad,  sounds  like  h  in  hull;  as  "bo,"  a  cow. 

B,  slender,  sounds  like  h  in  hit;  as  "beim,"  a  wound. 
The  broad  sound  of  b  is  produced  by  the  lips  being 

slightly  protruded,  wliile  in  gi^^ng  it  the  slender  sound 
the  lips  are  to  be  contracted. 

C,  broad,  sounds  like  c  in  call;  as  "  cas,"  a  case. 

C,  slender,  sounds  like  h  in  hindred;  as  "  cir,"  a  comb. 

The  broad  sound  of  c  is  produced  by  the  root  of  the 
tongue  closing  against  the  epiglottis,  and  the  slender 
sound  by  pressing  the  middle  part  of  the  tongua  against 
the  back  part  of  the  palate. 


6 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


D,  broad,  sounds  like  th  in  without;  as  "dan,"  a  poem. 
D,  slender,  sounds  like  d  in  din;  as  "dein,"  do. 

The  broad  sound  of  d  is  got  by  placing  the  tip  of  the 
tongue  at  the  root  of  the  upper  front  teeth,  and  lapng  it 
partly  flat  against  the  palate.  The  slender  sound  is  ob- 
tained by  relaxing  the  tongue  from  the  position  indicated 
and  placing  the  tip  thereof  against  the  palate,  a  little  space 
away  from  the  root  of  the  teeth. 

F,  broad,  sounds  like/in/aZZ;  as  "fas,"  growth. 

F,  slender,  sounds  like/ in /^le;  as  "fine,"  a  tribe. 

The  broad  sound  of  f  is  obtained  by  slightly  protruding 
the  under  lip  and  bringing  it  in  contact  Avith  the  upper 
front  teeth.  The  slender  sound  is  got  by  contracting  the 
under  lip  and  pressing  it  against  the  upper  front  teeth. 

G,  broad,  sounds  like  g  in  goali  as  "go,"  a  lie. 

G,  slender,  sounds  like  g  in  begin;  as  "ge,"  a  goose. 

The  broad  and  slender  sound  of  g  are  obtained  by 
placing  the  organs  in  the  same  position  as  in  articulating 
the  letter  c  broad  and  slender. 

L,  broad,  sounds  broader  than  I  in  law;  as  "Ian,"  full. 
L,  slender,  is  more  liquid  than  I  in  valiant;  as  "leim,"  leap. 

AVe  get  the  1  sound,  broad  and  slender,  by  placing  the 
tongue  in  nearly  the  same  position  as  in  articulating  the  d. 

M,  broad,  sounds  like  m  in  most;  as  "mor,"  great. 
M,  slender,  sounds  like  m  in  mint;  as  "  mil,"  honey. 

The  broad  and  slender  sound  of  m  are  got  by  protrud- 
mg  and  contracting  the  lips  as  in  uttering  the  letter  b. 

N,  broad,  is  broader  than  n  in  no ;  as  "  nos,"  a  custom. 
N,  slender,  is  more  slender  than  n  in  news;  as  "m,"  not. 

The  sounds  of  n  are  obtained  by  putting  the  tongue  in 
the  same  position  as  in  articulating  the  d  or  1. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


7 


P,  broad,  sounds  like  jt?  in  poor;  as  "port,"  a  harbor. 
P,  slender,  sounds  like  jt?  in  pure;  as  "pic,"  a  peck. 

The  letter  p  being  a  labial,  its  sounds  are  produced  by 
protruding  and  contracting  the  lips  as  in  articulating  the 
letter  b  or  m  broad  and  slender. 

R,  broad,  sounds  like  r  in  car ;  as  "  mor,"  great, 
R,  slender,  sounds  like  r  in  care ;  as  "  cir,"  a  comb. 

The  difference  in  the  positions  of  the  tongue  in  uttering 
the  letter  r  broad  and  slender  is  very  slight,  and  cannot  be 
well  defined. 

S,  broad,  sounds  like  s  in  soo7i ;  as  "  sort,"  a  sort. 
S,  slender,  sounds  like  sh  in  she;  as  "se,"  he. 

This  consonant  needs  no  explanation.  It  is  always  a 
liissing  sibilant.  The  old  Gaelic  grammarians  called  it 
the  "  queen  of  consonants." 

T,  broad,  sounds  like  th  in  rhythm ;  as  "  tur,"  a  tower. 
T,  slender,  sounds  like  t  in  tin;  as  "teist,"  a  testimony. 

The  broad  and  slender  sound  of  t  are  produced  by 
placing  the  tongue  in  the  same  position  as  in  sounding 
d,  1,  n,  broad  and  slender. 

The  exemplification  of  the  sounds  of  the  letters  given 
above  (that  part  devoted  to  the  consonants  at  least)  is  not 
to  be  exclusively  relied  upon.  The  English  speaker  can 
discern  no  difference  between  the  broad  and  slender  b,  d, 
f,  1,  m,  n,  p,  r,  t ;  neither  will  the  indicating  of  the  posi- 
tion of  the  organs  be  any  use  to  liim  in  determining  the 
sounds  of  these  letters  in  Gaelic.  The  sounds  of  these 
letters  must  consequently  be  learned  by  ear^  from  a  good 
Gaelic  speaker.  And  when  the  learner  has  once  acquired 
the  sounds  of  the  letters  in  this  way,  he  will  find  no  diffi- 
culty in  pronouncing  words,  for  letters  are  the  component 
■^arts  of  2vords, 


8 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


Vocabulary. 


The  folloTving  vocabulary,  composed  of  words  of  one 
syllable,  shows  the  vowels  in  conjunction  with  consonants 
forming  words,  and  exhibits  the  broad  and  slender  sounds 
of  the  consonants  together  with  the  long  and  short  sounds 
of  the  vowels.  In  the  left  hand  column  the  vowels  are  all 
long ;  in  the  opposite  right  hand  column  they  are  all  short. 


A 


cas,  a  case, 
has,  death* 
ban,  white, 
ard,  high. 
bad,  a  boat, 
Ian,  full. 


cas,  twisted. 

bas,  palm  of  hand. 

gian,  clean. 

cat,  a  cat. 

brat,  a  mantle. 

lag,  weak. 

gas,  a  stalk. 

glas,  green;  chilly. 


bard,  a  hard. 
dan,  a  poem. 


O 


port,  a  harhor. 


port,  a  tune. 
gort,  a  garden. 
olc,  had. 
bog,  soft. 
folt,  fdlet. 
dos,  a  hush. 
cros,  a  cross. 
cos,  afoot. 


bron,  grief 
ros,  a  rose, 
mor,  great, 
6g,  young. 


bord,  a  table. 
nos,  a  custom, 
pog,  a  kiss. 


U 


xir^  fresh;  novel. 


pus,  a  lip. 


clu,  fame, 
cul,  poll. 


bun,  hottom. 
rud,  a  f/iwi^. 
gus,  energy. 
lus,  a?i  7ier6, 
suit,  mirtli. 


dun,  a  fort, 
lub.  Zoo/?, 
run,  a  secret. 


OKTHOGRAPHY. 


9 


E 


sp^ir,  sky. 
g^is,  a  swan. 
ge,  a  goose. 
f  eis,  festival. 
gle,  pure. 
spre,  a  dowry. 
leim,  a  leap. 


speir,  a  ham. 
teist,  a  testimony. 
ceist,  a  question. 
geir,  tallow. 
geilt,  a  lunatic. 
seilg,  a  chase, 
sgeilg,  a 


nun,  minute. 
mi,  a  month. 
spin,  a  thorn. 
tir,  a  ?^i7i6?. 
If,  coZ(?r. 
cli,  tAe  cA^si. 
im,  butter. 


min,  m^aZ. 
mis,  a  maiden, 
glic,  cunning. 
tim,  timid. 
slis,  a  Zat^. 
lil,  a  lily, 
dris,  a 


In  tliat  part  of  the  above  vocabulary  under  the  vowel  e, 
it  will  be  noticed  that  m  some  words,  instead  of  the  single 
vowel  e,  we  have  the  digraph  ei.  This  accompanying 
vowel  (i)  is  inserted  because  the  vowel  e  can  never  stand 
alone  in  a  syllable,  except  when  it  ends  a  word;  as  "gle," 
"  spre,"  etc.  Whenever  it  is  followed  by  a  consonant  it 
must  take  the  slender  vowel  i  if  the  following  consonant 
be  slender,  and  the  broad  vowel  u  (or  a)  if  the  foUomng 
consonant  be  broad;  as  "feis,"  a  festival;  "beus,"  (or 
"beas,")  a  habit.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  vowel 
e  has  no  influence  over  the  consonant  that  follows  it  in 
determining  the  broad  or  slender  sound  thereof ;  hence  it 
is  that  it  must  always  take  the  adventitious  vowel  i  or  u 
after  it  in  a  syllable,  wliich  vowel  is  never  heard  in  the 
pronunciation,  being  inserted  only  to  preserve  the  sound 
of  the  consonant  after  e. 


10 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


Double  Consonants  And  Vowel  Changes. 

When  a  double  consonant  — 11,  nn,  rr,  or  m  (which  in 
old  Gaelic  was  doubled  in  monosyllables) —  stands  at  the 
end  of  a  monosyllabic  word,  the  preceding  vowel  is  length- 
ened in  sound  or  otherwise  changed  in  quality;  as  "barr," 
top,  pronounced  hawr ;  "mall,"  slow,  pron.  mawl;  "clann," 
children,  pron.  klawn;  "trom,"  heavy,  pron.  throam ; 
"  cill,"  a  church,  pron.  heel.  This  is  the  analogical  pro- 
nunciation, but  between  the  dialect  of  Munster  and  Con- 
nacht  there  is  the  following  difference. 

In  Munster  the  vowel  a  or  o  coming  before  11,  nn,  m,  ng 
in  monosyllables,  and  nc,  nl,  nr,  nt  in  dissyllables,  is  cor- 
rupted into  a  diphthongal  sound,  like  ow  in  liow\  as 
"  dall,"  blind,  pron.  dhoiuli  "  clann,"  children,  pron.  Mown; 
"trom,"  heavy,  2?ron.  throwm. 

In  Connacht,  though  the  vowel  a  gets  its  proper  long 
sound  in  these  positions,  the  o  or  i  is  never  long  before 
the  forementioned  double  consonants. 

The  following  list  of  monosyllables  ending  in  a  double 
consonant  or  in  m,  illustrates  every  instance  of  vowel 
change  to  perfection.  The  student  in  pronouncing  these 
words,  is  expected  to  follow  the  custom  of  his  native  dia- 
lect, while  those  who  are  stud3T.ng  Gaelic  as  a  foreign 
language  may  adopt  the  analogical  pronunciation, 
mall,  dow.  poll,  a  hole. 

coll,  hazel.  lom,  hare. 

fann,  weary.  cam,  crooked. 

clami,  children.  barr,  summit. 

tonn,  a  wave.  cill,  a  church. 

fonn,  diligence^  inclination,    horm,  footing. 
oorr,  thick^  clustering.  binn,  melodious. 

In  Munster  the  vowel  o  before  nn,  ng  in  a  few  words  is 
sounded  like  o  in  do\  as  "tonn,"  a  wave,  pron.  thoon; 
"long,"  a  ship,  2?ron.  Ihoong 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


11 


It  should  be  here  noted  that  when  a  monosyllable  end- 
ing in  a  double  consonant  has  another  syllable  affixed  to 
it,  or,  in  other  words,  when  it  becomes  a  polysyllable,  the 
double  consonant  loses  its  influence  over  the  preceding 
vowel,  which  assumes  its  ordinary  short  sound;  thus 
"clanna,"  "tonna,"  "loma,"  "binne,"  "cille."  In  this 
case  the  double  consonant  becomes  divided  between  the 
two  syllables:  —  "clan-na,"  "ton-na,"  "bin-ne,"  "cil-le," 
etc.  If  the  double  consonant,  however,  is  followed  by 
another  consonant  it  will  retain  its  influence  over  the 
preceding  vowel;  as  "poUtha,"  "camtha,"  "tomitach." 

Combinations  of  Consonants. 

Two  or  three  consonants  coming  together  in  a  word 
without  any  vowel  intervening,  constitute  what  is  called  a 
"combination  of  consonants."  There  are  some  conson- 
ants wliich,  when  thus  combined,  do  not  coalesce,  and  in 
the  pronunciation  a  very  short  vowel  sound  is  heard  be- 
tween them  —  as  that  heard  between  in  the  English 
word  alarm;  between  Im  in  fdm,  etc.  A  combination  of 
this  kind  is  easily  known  by  its  containing  a  liquid  ( 1,  n, 
orr),  which  is  the  only  letter  in  Gaelic  that,  from  the 
nature  of  its  abrupt  sound,  very  rarely  admits  of  coal- 
escing with  diXij  of  the  other  consonants.  The  following 
list  of  abrupt  combinations  will  illustrate  tliis. 

l  =  lb,  Ic,  Ig,  Ibh,  Ich,  Im,  In    dl,  tl. 

r  =  rb,  rc,  rg,  rbh,  rch,  rm,  rn    sr,  tr. 

n  =  —    -  —  nbh,  nch,  nm,  —    cn,  gn,  mn,  tn. 

The  following  list  of  words,  though  not  exhibiting  all 
the  abrupt  combinations,  mil,  nevertheless,  form  a  good 
exercise  for  pronouncing  the  most  important  of  them. 
Every  word  given  herein  or  elsewhere  should,  together 
with  its  pronunciation,  be  committed  to  memory;  for  the 


12 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


words  set  down  in  this  treatise  are,  indeed,  the  commonest 
and  most  essential  in  the  language,  and  later  on  the  stud- 
ent will  find  them  employed  in  a  more  important  function 
than  that  of  illustrating  the  sounds  of  their  component 
parts  —  the  letters. 

enoc,  a  hill.  borb,  fierce^  haughty, 

gno,  business^  bolg,  a  sack,  belly. 

mna,  women.  garg,  rough. 

earn,  a  cairn.  colm,  a  dove, 

sgolb,  a  splinter,  gorm,  blue. 

ASSIMILATION. 

In  the  combination  dl  and  In  the  d  and  n  become  assi- 
milated with  the  1,  which  sounds  hke  11;  as  '*codla," 
sleejD,  j;?ron.  col-la-,  "ailne,"  beauty,  awl-le.    The  dn 

becomes  mi;  as  "ceudna,"  same,  ^:>ro?i.  kayn-na. 

The  combination  ng  at  the  end  of  dissyllabic  words  is, 
in  parts  of  ^lunster  and  Connacht,  pronounced  like  nn 
when  slender  and  like  gg  when  broad;  as  "aisling,"  a 
dream,  j9ro?i.  ash-linn;  "fairseang,"  wide,  ^j>ro?i./(9r-s7iw^(7. 

The  student  should  bear  in  mind  that  both  consonants 
in  any  combination  are  sounded  alike;  i.  e.  both  are  broad 
if  written  with  a  broad  vowel,  and  slender  if  \NTitten  Avith 
a  slender  vowel.  The  only  exception  to  this  rule  is  the 
letter  s,  wliich  retains  its  broad  sound  before  b,  p,  m,  r, 
whether  the  accompanying  vowel  be  broad  or  slender; 
e,  g,  "spin,"  a  thorn,  pron.  speen  (not  shpeen^  ;  "smigfn," 
a  chin,  pron.  smi-geeyi  (not  shmi-geen^  ;  "srian,"'  a  bridle, 
pron.  sree-an  (not  shree-an^.  Some  speakers  give  the  s  its 
broad  sound  also  before  g;  as  "sgian,"  a  knife,  "sgeilg," 
a  rock,  which  are  sometimes  pronounced  sgee-an,  sgel-lig; 
but  shgee-an,  shgel-lig  is  the  proper  pronunciation  of  these 
words. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


13 


A  Few  Rules  of  Syntax. 

THE  NOUN,  ADJECTIVE  AND  VERB. 

Article  and  noun:  The  definite  article  in  Gaelic  is 
"an,"  which  is  equivalent  to  the  English  the.  It  parti- 
cularizes or  makes  definite  the  noun  to  which  it  is  pre- 
fixed; as  "an  bad,"  the  hoat\  "an  ros,"  the  rose.  When 
a  noun  is  used  without  the  definite  article  it  is  understood 
to  be  indefinite ;  as  "  bad,"  a  boat  (any  boat)  ;  "  ros,"  a 
rose  (any  rose)  ;  there  being  no  indefinite  article  in  the 
Gaelic  language;  nor,  indeed,  is  there  any  necessary,  be- 
cause the  absence  of  the  definite  article  is  a  sure  guar- 
antee that  the  noun  is  indefinite. 

Adjectr'E  and  noun  :  An  adjective  is  always  placed 
along  with  its  noun.  It  is  a  word  usually  denoting  size 
or  quaUty,  and  as  such  it  modifies  or  qualifies  the  noun 
with  wliich  it  is  written.  The  natural  position  of  the 
adjective  in  Gaelic  is  after  the  noun  it  qualifies;  as 
"bad  mor,"  a  boat  large^  or,  a  large  boat;  "port  binn," 
a  tune  melodious^  or,  a  melodious  tune. 

Verb  and  noun:  The  verb  in  Gaelic  is  put  before 
the  noun  or  subject,  and  is  generally  the  first  word  in  the 
sentence ;  thus,  the  dog  barks  would  be  expressed  in 
Gaelic  barks  the  dog;  the  orator  speaks  would  be 
expressed  speaks  the  orator;  "ta  an  ros,"  the  rose  is^ 
literally  reads  is  the  rose;  "ta  an  bad,"  the  boat  is,  liter- 
ally reads  is  the  boat,  etc. 

But  the  verb  "  ta,"  is,  does  not  convey  any  definite  idea 
in  itself,  as,  for  instance,  when  we  say  the  rose  is,  we  im- 
part no  particular  information,  but  when  we  say  the  rose 
is  white,  here  the  adjective,  white,  completes  the  meaning 
of  the  verb  is,  and  makes  a  definite  assertion.  Such  an 
adjective  is  called  a  predicate  adjective  or  attribute.  The 
position  of  the  predicate  adjective  or  attribute  in  Gaehc  is 


14 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


after  the  noun  or  subject,  and  the  order  of  the  sentence 
is:  1,  Verb,  2,  Subject,  3,  Predicate  adjective; 
thus : 

i.  Verb,  2,  Subject,    3,  Fred,  adj. 

"Ta     I     an  ros      (     ban,"    =    the  rose  is  ivhite, 

"Ta      I     an  bad     |     Ian,"     =    the  boat  is  full. 

The  learner  is  to  carefully  distinguish  between  the 
predicate  adjective  or  attribute  (used  always  in  con- 
nection with  some  form  of  the  verb  meaning  to  be')  and 
the  ordinary  qualifying  adjective,  because  both  these  ad- 
jectives in  Gaelic  follow  the  noun  to  wliich  they  refer: 
thus: 

Verb,         Subject,       Pred.  adj. 
"Ta     I    an  ros  ban    |      olc,"  =  the  ivhite  rose  is  bad. 

In  this  example  we  perceive  that  both  adjectives  follow 
the  noun  in  the  Gaelic  sentence,  that  the  first  of  these  is 
an  ordinary  qualifjdng  adjective,  forming  part  of  the  log- 
ical subject,  and  the  second  a  predicate  adjective ;  where- 
fore the  rule  is  that,  no  matter  how  many  adjectives  may 
follow  a  noun  or  subject,  the  predicate  adjective  will 
always  be  the  last  in  the  sentence.  And  when  two  ad- 
jectives are  predicated  of  the  same  noun,  they  are  con- 
nected by  the  conjunction  "agus,"  and  ;  as  "ta  an  ros 
ban  agus  ur,"  the  rose  is  lohite  and  fresh. 

Another  particular  to  be  noted  in  connection  with  the 
verb  to  be  in  Gaelic  is,  that  it  never  changes  its  form  ex- 
cept for  tense  only.  In  English  tliis  verb  changes  its 
form  not  only  for  tense  but  for  number  and  person ;  thus, 
the  verb  is  becomes  am,  art,  are,  according  as  its  subject 
is  singular  or  plural,  first,  second,  or  thirt  person ;  but 
the  verb  "  ta  "  never  changes  in  this  manner,  as  may  be 
seen  from  the  following : 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


15 


Ta  me,  /  am,  Ta  sinn,  we  are. 

Ta  tu,  thou  art  (jyou  are.}  Ta  sibh,  i/ou  are  (jje  are.) 

Ta  s6,  lie  is  (it  is.)  Ta  siad,  thei/  are. 

Ta  SI,  she  is  (it  is.) 

EXERCISE  L 

1.  Bard.  2.  An  bard.  3.  An  bard  lag.  4.  Bad  Ian. 
5.  An  bad  Ian.  6.  An  bard  agus  an  dan.  7.  Gas  glas 
agus  bad  Ian.  8.  Ta  an  brat  ban.  9-  Gas  lag  agus  brat 
ban.  10.  Ta  an  cat  ban  agus  ta  an  gas  glas.  11.  Gas 
ard,  glas.  12.  Bord  mor.  13.  Bron  agus  bas.  14.  Ta 
an  cat  6g  agus  ta  an  ros  ban.  15.  Nos  olc.  16.  Pog 
agus  ros.  17.  Ta  an  gas  agus  an  ros  ban.  18.  Ta  an 
bad  mor  agus  an  port  Ian.  19.  Dos  glas  agus  ros  bog. 
20.  Port  agus  dan,  brat  agus  an  bard.  21.  Lus  agus  gas. 
22.  Lub  mor.  23.  Ta  rud  ban  glan.  24.  Ros  ban,  ur. 
25.  Ta  an  cat  ban  6g.  26.  Rud  mm,  gle.  27.  Ros  agus 
lil,  pog  agus  dris.  28.  Ta  an  ros  agus  an  lil  nun,  agus  ta 
an  dris  cas.  29.  Cat  glic.  30.  Dris  cas  agus  ros  min,  ur. 
31.  Bun  agus  barr.  32.  Folt  borr.  33.  An  folt  borr. 
34.  Bard  glic,  dan  binn.  35.  Ta  an  gort  lorn.  36.  Poll 
mor.  37.  Sgeilg  ard  agus  leim  olc.  38.  Cnoc  ard  agus 
an  colm.  39.  Gno  olc.  40.  Cnoc  agus  earn,  clu  'gus 
dan.    41.  Brat  gorm.    42.  Ta  an  brat  gorm. 

Translation. 

1.  A  bard.  2.  The  bard.  3.  The  weak  bard.  4.  A 
full  boat.  5.  The  full  boat.  6.  The  bard  and  the  poem. 
7.  A  green  stalk  and  a  full  boat.  8.  The  garment  is 
white.  9.  A  weak  stalk  and  a  white  garment.  10.  The 
cat  is  white  and  the  stalk  is  green.  11.  A  tall,  green 
stalk.  12.  A  large  table.  13.  Grief  and  death.  14. 
The  cat  is  young  and  the  rose  is  white.  15.  A  bad  cus- 
tom. 16.  A  kiss  and  a  rose.  17.  The  stalk  and  the  rose 
are  white.    18.  The  boat  is  large  and  the  harbor  fulle 


16 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


19.  A  green  bush  and  a  soft  rose.  20.  A  tune  and  a 
poem,  a  mantle  and  the  bard.  21.  An  herb  and  a  stalk. 
22.  A  large  loop.  23.  A  white  thing  is  clean.  24.  A 
white,  fresh  rose.  25.  The  white  cat  is  young.  26.  A 
fine,  bright  tiling.  27.  A  rose  and  a  lily,  ^^  kiss  and  a 
brier.  28.  The  rose  and  the  lily  are  fine,  and  the  brier 
is  knotty.  29.  A  cunning  cat.  30.  A  knotty  brier  and 
a  fine,  fresh  rose.  31.  Bottom  and  top.  32.  A  cluster- 
ing tress.  33.  The  clustering  tress.  34.  A  cunning 
bard,  a  melodious  poem.  35.  The  field  is  bare.  36.  A 
large  hole.  37.  A  high  rock  and  a  bad  leap.  38.  A 
high  liill  and  the  dove.  39.  Bad  business.  40.  A  hill 
and  a  cairn,  fame  and  a  poem.  41.  A  blue  garment. 
42.  The  garment  is  blue. 

 :  o  :  

LESSON  II. 

WOKDS  OF  MOEE  ThAN  OnE  SYLLABLE. 
ACCENT. 

In  pronouncing  a  word  of  two  or  more  syllables  it  will 
be  noticed  that  one  of  its  syllables  is  uttered  vnth.  more 
emphasis  than  the  others.  Tliis  emphasis  on  a  particular 
S3'llable  in  a  word  is  called  accent  or  ictus.  There  are 
two  methods  of  accentuating  Gaelic  words,  which  char- 
acterize respectively  the  Munster  dialect  and  the  Con- 
nacht  dialect. 

THE  MUNSTER  METHOD. 

1.  Words  whose  syllables  are  short  have  the  accent 
on  the  second  syllable ;  as  "galar',"  "capallV  "maras'- 
gal,"  "  gramas 'gar."  If  the  second  syllable  occurs  be- 
tween an  abrupt  combination  of  consonants  it  will,  never- 
theless, take  the  accent;  as  "calm'a,"  "borb'." 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


17 


2.  A  dissyllabic  word  having  both  its  syllables  long 
takes  the  accent  on  the  second  syllable;  as  "dolas"' 
"urlarV  "bundun'." 

3.  A  trisyllabic  word  having  the  first  and  last  syllable 
long  (with  the  short  syllable  intervening),  takes  the 
accent  on  the  first  syllable;  as  "dur'adan,"  '^monWan." 

4.  A  word  which  has  only  one  long  syllable  takes  the 
accent  on  that  syllable,  be  it  first  or  last;  as  "cur'am," 
"cis'te,"  "cadas',"  "comor'tas,"  "amadan'." 

THE  CONNACHT  METHOD. 

In  the  Connacht  dialect  the  accent  is  always,  with  few 
exceptions,  placed  upon  the  first  syllable  of  a  word;  as 
''garar,"  "cap'all,"  gram'asgar,"  "carma,"  "  doras," 
"ur'lar,"  "dur'adan,"  "mon'adan,"  "cur'am,"  "cis'te," 
"cad'as,"     com'ortas,"  "am'adan." 

The  most  conspicuous  difference  between  the  Munster 
and  Connacht  pronunciation  lies  in  the  accentuation  of 
those  words  which  contain  only  one  long  syllable ;  as 
"cadas,"  ''comortas,"  "amadan.''  When  the  solitary 
long  vowel  in  such  words  happens  to  be  in  the  first 
syllable,  both  dialects  agree  in  the  accent ;  as  "  curam," 
"ciste,"  "mala,"  "arsa."  But  if  the  long  vowel  occur 
in  any  other  than  the  first  syllable,  the  Connacian  will  in- 
variably ignore  its  existence  and,  to  be  consistent  with  his 
general  rule  of  accentuation,  place  the  ictus  on  the  first 
(short)  syllable;  as  "cad'as,"  "com'ortas,"  "am'adan." 
Tliis  placing  of  the  ictus  on  the  short  syllable  tends  to 
modify,  if  not  absolutely  cancel,  the  quantity  of  the  soli- 
tary long  vowel.  The  reason  is  obvious.  In  articulating 
any  word  a  speaker  has  at  his  disposal  but  a  limited 
amount  of  vocal  energy  to  expend  in  pronouncing  it.  If 
an  undue  share  of  this  vocal  volume  is  given  to  the  first 
syllable  in  pronouncing  a  word  like  "  amadan  "  the  result 


18 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


is  that  when  the  speaker  has  reached  the  final  sjllahle  the 
strength  of  the  voice  have  been  expended,  and  that 
syllable  will  suffer  the  loss  of  its  full  and  broad  enunci- 
ation. To  remedy  this  evil  in  our  own  language  the 
Connacians  must  adopt  a  compromise  and  not  cling  to  the 
too  general  rule  of  always  accenting  words  on  the  first 
syllable.  In  the  old  Gaelic  we  have  sufficient  reason  to 
believe  that  there  was  no  particular  rule  regulating  the 
position  of  the  accent  either  at  the  beginning  or  at  the 
end  of  words :  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  evident  that  the 
position  of  the  accent  in  a  word  depended  more  upon  the 
form  of  the  word  itself  than  upon  any  arbitrary  rule.  In 
the  Munster  dialect  the  variation  of  the  accent  is  very 
marked;  where,  for  instance,  in  words  like  "cadas," 
"amadan,"  the  accent  is  placed  upon  the  final  syllable, 
while  in  such  words  as  "duradan,"  "monadan,  '  ''ughda- 
ras,"  it  it  invariably  placed  on  the  first  syllable.  In  this 
respect  the  Munster  dialect,  which  seems  to  be  more  con- 
servative of  ancient  forms  than  any  other,  bears  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  Greek. 

This  divergence  in  practice  between  the  people  of 
Munster  and  Connacht  is  not  to  be  understood  as  a  defect 
peculiar  to  Gaelic  alone.  In  every  language  are  to  be 
found  classes  of  words,  more  or  less  extensive,  regarding 
the  pronunciation  of  which  there  is  a  wide  difference  of 
opinion,  or  the  accentuation  of  which  has  not  been  deter- 
mined even  by  the  best  authorities.  In  English,  the  word 
demonstrate  is  often  accented  on  the  first  syllable  (dem'on- 
strate')^  while  as  ofteii  again,  and  with  as  much  propriety, 
is  it  accented  on  the  second  syllable  (demon' strate^ .  To 
tliis  may  be  added  alternate^  decorous^  ally^  blasphemous^ 
and  a  host  of  other  words  which  are  accented  by  some 
persons  on  the  first  syllable  and  by  others  on  the  second 
syllable.    Regarding  the  accentuation  of  the  word  bias 


ORTHOGEAPHY. 


19 


phemous,  John  Walker,  the  celebrated  English  lexicog- 
rapher, has  the  following  remark: 

''We  sometimes  hear  this  word  pronounced  w^ith  tlie 
accent  on  the  second  syllable,  like  blaspheme ;  and  as  the 
Avord  hlasphemus^  in  Latin,  has  the  second  syllable  long, 
and  tl\e  English  word  has  the  same  number  of  syllables, 
it  has  as  good  a  right  to  the  accent  on  the  second  syllable 
as  sonorous^  bitumen^  acumen^  etc. ;  but  placing  the  accent 
on  the  first  syllable  of  blasphemous  is  by  much  the  most 
polite,  as,  unfortunately  for  the  other  pronunciation, 
though  a  learned  one,  it  has  been  adojDted  by  the  vulgar." 

It  may  appear  strange,  indeed,  to  many  that  the  En- 
glish language  should  betray  the  same  defects  which 
exist  in  Gaelic.  This  will  seem  far  more  inexplicable 
when  it  is  considered  that  the  English  language  has  been 
steadily  undergoing  a  process  of  cultivation  for  at  least 
four  hundred  ^^ears,  while  during  that  same  length  of 
time  the  ill-fated  Gaelic  has  been  banned,  proscribed,  and 
relegated  to  the  keeping  of  a  down-trodden,  tyrannized 
j)easantry.  An  intellectual  peasantry,  indeed,  these  were, 
and,  as  they  have  been  truly  styled,  ''the  finest  peasantry 
in  Europe,"  still  when  we  compare  the  sp>oke7i  Gaelic  of 
to-day  with  the  standard  vernacular  of  London  or  New 
York,  we  are  comparing  the  language  of  a  peasantry  with 
the  language  of  a  pampered,  educated  aristocracy.  To  be 
more  just  to  the  peasantry  of  Ireland,  of  Celtic  origin, — 
who  have  happily  preserved  to  us  the  language  and  liter- 
ature of  a  great  past  —  it  will  be  fitter  to  compare  them 
with  the  English  classes  of  their  own  social  standing  — - 
the  peasantry  of  England  —  who,  however,  enjoy  far 
greater  advantages.  Have  the  country  boors  of  Britain 
preserved  and  cultivated  their  English  language  among 
them  vn\h  as  much  assiduity  and  success  as  the  Irish 
peasantry  have    preserved  and  cultivated  their  native 


20 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


Celtic  ?  The  great  ethnic  differences  between  the  Saxon 
and  the  Celt  would  seem  to  be  all  summed  up  in  the 
answer  to  this  question. 

Throughout  the  rural  districts  of  England,  the  English 
language  is  not  only,  in  many  cases,  wrongly  accented, 
but  corrupted  and  hoj^elessly  distorted.  "  Nearly  every 
county  in  Britain,"  says  Noah  Webster,  "has  its  local 
dialect,  its  peculiar  words  and  forms,  wliich  are  used  by 
the  common  people  of  the  lower  classes.  *  *  *  This 
great  variety  of  local  idioms  may  be  classified,  according  to 
Mr.  Ellis,  in  six  divisions:  Southern,  Western,  Eastern, 
Midland,  Northern  and  Lowland  (Scotch),  each  of  which 
falls  ajDart  into  several  subdivisions  or  districts.  For  most 
of  the  dialects,  glossaries  have  been  published,  often  with 
specimen  compositions  of  greater  or  less  extent :  but  only 
the  Scotch  (the  lineal  descendant  of  the  Old  Northum- 
brian) can  be  said  to  have  a  literature." 

Mr.  A.  J.  Ellis,  above  referred  to,  has  given  a  general 
outline  of  the  location  of  those  several  dialects  in  liis 
work  on  the  English  Dialects."  In  his  public  capacity, 
as  man  of  letters  and  President  of  the  London  Philolosr- 
ical  Society,  he  made  a  personal  canvass  of  Britain,  to 
ascertain  the  condition  of  the  English  language  among 
the  country  folk ;  and  according  to  his  own  testimony,  in 
several  of  the  districts  which  he  visited,  the  English  lan- 
guage was  so  wretchedly  corrupted  that  he  failed  to  un- 
dei-stand  it  when  spoken.  From  among  the  almost  in- 
numerable instances  of  corruption  wliich  he  gives,  the 
folloTvdng  examples  are  taken  at  random,  without  refer- 
ence to  any  particular  dialect  or  district.  To  begin  with, 
the  vowel  e  is  sounded  like  a;  as  marri  iox  merry ;  the 
vowel  0  is  corrupted  into  uo ;  as  suom  for  some  ;  and  the 
vowel  a  is  broken  up  into  ei\  as  neim  for  name.  The 
consonant  s  is  sounded  like  z  ;  as  zuom  for  some  ;  and/  is 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


21 


sounded  like  v ;  as  vra7n  for  from.  The  word  pull  is 
pronounced  puol^  time  is  pronounced  taoym  and  taum.,  and 

is  pronounced  hium.  Road  is  pronounced  roud^ 
take  is  pronounced  taiuk^  and  Aoi^s^  is  pronounced  Aoo«. 
The  words  we  hnoiv  are  corrupted  into  ivi  noan^  have  you 
into  ann  yoa^  ivill  they  into  woan  dhi^  and  do  we  into 

In  this  manner,  every  word  which  the  English  peas- 
antry have  occasion  to  use  is  turned  by  them  into  a  cor- 
rupt form,  which  in  ahnost  every  instance  differs  so  much 
from  the  written  form  that  it  may  be  said  to  demand  an 
orthography  of  its  own.  This  is  precisely  what  consti- 
tutes the  dialectic  peculiarity.  Wherever  the  spoken 
word  differs  from  the  written  word,  there  you  have  a  new 
dialect. 

Now,  in  considering  the  difference  between  the  two 
dialects,  so-called,  of  the  Gaelic  language,  we  are  not  in- 
volved in  a  question  of  corruption,  but  simply  in  a  ques- 
tion as  to  the  proper  position  of  the  accent,  and  that  only 
in  regard  to  a  certain  class  of  words.  It  is  naturally  to 
be  inferred,  therefore,  that  in  Gaelic  there  are  no  cor- 
ruptions. This  is  perfectly  true;  and  not  only  is  the 
Gaelic  tongue  comparatively  free  from  corruptions,  but 
it  is  evidently  plain  to  any  one  who  knows  even  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  language,  that  it  is  i^roof 
against  corruption.  This  redeeming  virtue  of  the  Gaelic 
tongue,  and  which  distinguishes  it  from  all  other  lan- 
guages now  in  existence,  lies  mainly  in  those  nice  dis- 
tinctions which  obtain  in  its  j^rimary  alphabetic  sounds, 
and  which  are  usually  termed  broad  and  slender^  long  and 
short.  The  twelve  consonants  of  the  language,  as  has 
been  already  explained  (pages  3  to  7),  are  so  character- 
istic that  each  is  susceptible  of  two  distinct  sounds,  com- 
monly called  the  broad  sound  and  the  slender  sound. 
Now,  each  of  these  sounds,  which  a  consonant  is  capable 


22 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


of  assuming,  is  so  distinguished  from  its  opposite,  that  it 
would  be  considered  the  greatest  violation,  orally  or 
otherwise,  to  confound  them.  Hence  it  is  that,  no  matter 
what  vicissitudes  the  language  may  have  passed  through, 
the  broad  consonant  could  not  by  any  possible  phenom- 
enon become  slender,  or  the  slender  consonant  become 
broad.  The  consonantal  sounds,  then,  that  were  broad 
\n  ancient  times  are  broad  to-day,  and  those  that  were 
: 'lender  in  ancient  times  are  slender  to-day.  And  by  this 
singularly  happy  principle  in  our  language,  which  has 
preserved  it  —  in  its  consonantal  framework  at  least  —  in- 
violable  and  inviolate  for  thousands  of  yeai-s,  we.  Irish- 
men of  the  present  day,  can  affirm,  as  can  also  our  kin  of 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  that  we  speak  the  same  lan- 
/^iiage  wliich  was  spoken  by  the  bards  and  brehons,  the 
'I'  ui'ds  Sindfdidhe  of  antiquit}^* 

The  same  principle  which  has  preserved  the  consonants 
torn  corruption  has  also  preserved  the  vowels.  These 
Litter  are  classified  into  broad  and  slender,  from  which, 
irdeed,  the  consonants  derive  their  broad  and  slender 
srunds.  In  addition  to  this,  each  one  of  the  five  vowels 
is  capable  of  assuming  two  sounds,  the  lone/  sound  and 
th  e  short  sound,  which  are  as  distinct,  one  from  the  other, 
as  the  broad  and  slender  sounds  of  a  consonant,  and 
equally  uninterchangeable.  With  the  exception  of  two 
vowels    (o  and  e)  which  have,  in  a  number  of  words. 


'Xotwitbstaucling  tbis  remarkable  conservation  of  tbe  Gaelic  tongue,  it 
bas  suffered  from  its  five  centuries  of  neglect  and  proscription.  In  tbe 
spoken  language  of  tbe  present  day  tbere  ai-e,  indeed,  a  few  corruptions,  as 
mig  "it  be  expected ;  but  these  corruptions  have  been  introduced  through  tbe 
infl^^ence  of  tbe  English  language,  and  prevail  only  in  the  North  of  Ireland, 
whf  le  tbe  English  influence  was  first  felt.  Thus,  in  Ulster,  tbe  combination 
of  consonants,  cn,  is  never  pronounced,  simply  because  such  a  combination 
.\C!,A  not  occur  in  English.  Cn  is  therefore  pronounced  like  the  English  com 
bi'^Vition  cr;  as  "  cnoc,"  a  bill,  pronounced  "  croc."  Tbe  slender  sound  of  tbe 
Jf»v\al  (d  or  t)  is  also  somewhat  corrupt,  but  slightly  differing  from  the  broad 
sound.    (For  proper  sound,  see  page  6.) 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


23 


broken  up  into  partly  diphthongal  sounds  (thus,  immedi- 
ately after  the  Danish  invasion,  the  vowel  o  produced  the 
sound  of  e,  represented  by  the  digraph  oe,  ae,  or  ao ;  and 
the  vowel  e  produced  the  sound  of  a,  represented  by  the 
digraph  ea),  the  language  is,  in  its  vowel  element,  the 
same  to-day  as  it  was  two  thousand  years  ago.f 

Assuming  that  the  student  has  formed  a  good  concep- 
tion of  this  preservative  principle  of  the  Gaelic  tongue  — 
a  principle  which  has  not  been  heretofore  sufficiently  elu- 
cidated —  we  shall  now  resume  the  study  with  wliich  we 
started,  and  wliich  forms  the  subject  of  our  present  les- 
son; namely,  the  consideration  of  "Words  of  more  than 
one  Syllable:" 

There  is,  in  every  word  of  more  than  one  syllable,  as 
has  been  already  stated,  an  accented  syllable,  which  is 
distinguished  from  all  the  other  syllables  in  the  same 
word  by  having  a  particular  stress  of  voice  placed  upon 
it,  wliich  gives  it  a  certain  degree  of  prominence  or  audi- 
bility. The  degree  of  audibility,  however,  which  the  ac- 
cented vowel  receives  is  entirely  at  the  expense  of  some 
other  vowel  in  the  same  word,  which  latter  is  called  the 


tSome  of  the  vowels  and  their  combinations  — the  diphthongs  and  triph- 
thongs—are somewhat  corrupted  in  the  semi- Anglicized  vernacular  of  the 
North.  In  the  extreme  solicitude  which  the  Ultonians,  and  sometimes,  too, 
the  Connacians,  betrayed  in  making  their  native  Gaelic  resemble  as  much  as 
possible  the  language  of  their  masters,  they  made  certain  peculiar  vowel 
sounds  of  the  former  agree  exactly  with  certain  sounds  peculiar  to  the  latter. 
Thus,  the  prominent  vowel,  o,  in  the  digraph  oi,  is  sounded  like  e;  as 
"coirce,"  oat.-,  pronounced  "ceirce."  The  proper  diphthong  ia  is  sounded 
like  a  single  voM'el  i,  and  ua  like  a  single  vowel  u.  The  digraph  ao  (oe  or  ae) 
is  sounded  like  oe  in  Croesus. 

In  Munster  there  are  only  two  vowel  corruptions;  viz.,  the  vowel  o  in  the 
word  "  mor,"  great,  which  is  sounded  like  the  diphthong  ua;  and  the  digraph 
ea  (now  generally  written  eu),  which  is  improperly  sounded  like  the  diph- 
thong ea  in  the  English  word  "fear."  These,  however,  are  of  recent  intro- 
duction, and  occur  only  in  common  conversation.  In  repeating  poetr3% 
prayers,  or  any  exalted  kind  of  composition,  they  are  scrupulously  discarded, 
even  by  the  most  illiterate  peasant,  as  vulgar  modernisms.  If  the  Ultonians 
were  equally  as  candid  about  acknowledging  the  corruptions  which  have 
obtained  among  tbem,  all  would  be  well ! 


24: 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


obscure  vowel.  Obscurity  is  the  very  antithesis  of  prom- 
inence ;  wherefore  it  is  that  a  word  which  has  an  accented 
vovv^el  must  also,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  have  a  corres- 
pondingly obscure  vowel.  In  illustration  of  this  we  can 
do  no  better  than  reproduce  the  observation  of  Walker 
upon  the  obscure  vowels  in  English :  "If,"  says  Walker, 
the  accent  be  kept  strongly  on  the  first  syllable  of  the 
word  tolerable^  as  it  always  ought  to  be,  we  find  scarcely 
any  distinguishable  difference  to  the  ear,  if  we  substitute 
u  ov  0  instead  of  a,  in  the  penultimate  syllable ;  thus, 
tolerable^  toleroble,  and  toleruble^  are  exactly  the  same  word 
to  the  ear,  if  pronounced  without  premeditation  or  trans- 
posing the  accent  for  the  real  purpose  of  distinction."  etc. 

The  obscure  vowel  in  Gaelic  was  very  carelessly  dealt 
with  by  the  celebrated  scribes  of  old.  In  the  Gaelic 
manuscripts  we  find  the  three  broad  vowels,  a,  o,  u,  writ- 
ten indifferently  for  an  obscure  broad  vowel,  and  the  two 
slender  vowels,  e,  i,  for  an  obscure  slender  vowel.  But  it 
never  occurs  that  a  broad  vowel  is  written  for  a  slender 
vowel,  or  a  slender  vowel  for  a  broad  voAvel,  in  an  obscure 
syllable.J  The  two  classes,  broad  and  slender,  are  never 
confounded  however  obscure  the  syllable  may  be.  In  all 
cases  of  obscurity,  modern  writers  of  Gaelic  prefer  to  use 
the  vowel  a  for  the  broad  class  and  the  vowel  e  for  the 


X  This  holds  true  ia  regard  to  words  of  more  than  one  syllable.  There  are 
a  few  monosyllables  in  the  language  written  at  present  with  a  broad  vowel, 
which  in  ancient  times  wei3  written  with  a  slender  vowel;  and  a  few  others 
again  which,  though  now  written  with  a  slender  vowel,  were  anciently  writ- 
ten with  a  broad  vowel.  For  instance,  the  definite  article  ''an"  was  an- 
ciently written  "in."  The  verb  "is"  (the  present  tense  of  the  verb  "to  be," 
meaning  the  same  as  "  ta,"  but  used  in  a  different  collocation),  was  anciently 
written  "as";  as  in  the  expression,  "is  fear  me,"  I  am  a  man,  anciently 
written  "  as  fer  me,"  more  anciently  still,  "  asam  fer."  This  word,  however 
though  now  written  with  a  slender  vowel,  has  the  consonant  s  broad  in  sound 
and  in  this  connection,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  forms  the  onlj'  ex- 
ception, in  the  modern  language,  to  the  rule  which  declares  that  a  consonant 
must  derive  its  sound  from  the  vowel  with  which  it  is  written. 


ORTHOGKAPHY. 


25 


slender  class,  except  in  certain  words  where  the  etymol- 
ogy determines  the  identity  of  the  obscure  vowel. 

Short  vowels  only  are  obscure.  Long  vowels  may  be, 
and  often  are,  modified  b}^  the  influence  of  a  strong  ac- 
cent, but  they  are  never  really  obscure. § 

The  vowel  preceding  or  following  an  accented  syllable 
is,  as  a  general  rule,  obscure  in  sound. 

A  final  vowel  in  a  word  of  more  than  one  syllable,  is 
always  obscure. 

Final  e  is  never  silent  in  Gaelic,  as  in  English ;  it  al- 
ways forms  a  separate  syllable.  Thus,  ''file,"  a  poet,  and 
''fine,"  a  tribe,  are  both  pronounced  in  two  syllables, 
jil-le  fin-ne^  etc. 


§  There  are,  even  in  English,  quite  a  number  of  vowels,  naturallj-  long  or 
grave  in  sound,  which  are  very  much  inoditied  hy  the  influence  of  a  strong 
accent.  Take,  for  example,  words  ending  in  -ary  and  -ory  — such  as  neces- 
sarj",  contrary,  exemplary,  territory,  promontory,  etc. — which  are  pronounced 
in  the  United  States  with  a  secondary,  or  grave,  accent  on  the  penultimate 
syllable.  Now,  as  these  words  are  pronounced  in  England,  the  accent  is  so 
energeticallj-  placed  upon  the  first  syllable  that  it  completely  cancels  the 
secondary-  accent  so  prominent  in  the  language  of  the  United  States.  This 
gives  a  good  example  of  how  words  like  "amadan"  are  pronounced  in  the 
province  of  Ulster. 

The  difference,  in  fact,  that  exists  between  the  rival  dialects  of  "  Leath 
Choinn"  and  "  Leath  Mhogha"  (The  Northern  and  Southern  half  of  Ireland), 
is  no  greater  than  that  which  distinguishes  the  several  varieties  of  English 
which  prevail  in  England  and  in  the  United  States.  The  only  difference  is 
that  while  the  Gaelic  has  only  two  slightly  varying  dialects,  the  English  lan- 
guage is  broken  xip  into  several  dialects  of  the  greatest  dissimilarity.  We 
can  easily  conceive  what  might  have  been  the  fate  of  the  English  language 
had  it  been  subjected  to  the  same  ill-treatment,  proscription,  and  calumny 
which  the  language  of  Ireland  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  savage  Saxons. 
That  must  be  a  gi-eat  language  which,  after  centuries  of  enforced  obloquy, 
blooms  up  again  into  perennial  freshness  and  challenges  comparison  with 
the  cultivated  languages  of  the  world.  The  Gaelic  language  had  reached  a 
high  stage  of  evolutional  perfection  long  before  the  blighting  hand  of  Eng- 
land was  laid  upon  it;  so  tliat,  like  a  strong  man  battling  against  some  wild 
beast  of  the  woods,  it  bravely  resisted  the  encroachments  of  its  adversaiy, 
and  now,  after  the  long  struggle  and  its  triumph,  it  needs  but  a  little  encour- 
agement  to  display  its  former  vigor  and  activity.  In  its  inherent  character- 
istics, the  language  is  such  that  it  resists  corruption  and  corrupting  influ- 
ences, and  in  this  respect  it  forms  a  lasting  symbol,  or  memorial,  of  that  un. 
swerving  moral  purity  of  the  people  whose  language  it  is.  The  Irish  Ian. 
guage  and  people  have  now  been  sufficiently  put  to  the  test;  they  have  been 
weighed  in  the  balance,  and  they  have  not  been  found  wanting. 


26 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


Vocabulary. 


The  following  vocabulary  consists  of  words  of  two  and 
three  syllables.  In  the  left  hand  column,  every  word  has 
at  least  one  of  its  syllables  long  in  sound.  In  the  oppo- 
site right  hand  column,  every  word  has  all  its  syllables 
short. 


mala,  a  hag, 
ciste,  a  cake. 
aran,  bread, 

arus,  a  dwelling^  habitation, 
solas,  solace, 
dolas,  dolor^  sorrow, 
dana,  bold, 
curam,  care, 
arsa,  old^  ancient. 
dilis,  true ^  faithful.,  dear. 
granna,  ugly.,  unbecoming. 
urlar,  a  floor. 
pisgin,  a  kitten, 
brusgar,  fragments.,  debris. 
bradan,  a  salmon, 
morn  an,  a  tray, 
mortus,  boasffulness. 
bundun,  a  blunder. 
cadas,  cotton. 
cuntas,  a7i  account. 
camog,  a  curl.,  a  comma. 
monadan,  a  mountain  berry. 
duradan,  a  speck. 
amadan,  a  fool. 
comortus,  comparison. 
galltrumpa,  a  trump>et, 
fosgadan,  an  umbrella. 


mala,  an  eyebrow, 
ciste,  a  chest.,  a  treasure, 
galar,  a  disease, 
anam,  a  soul ;  life, 
doras,  a  door, 
capall,  a  horse. 
obann,  sudden, 
tobar,  a  well, 
focal,  a  word, 
file,  a  poet, 

pobal,  people,,  popidace, 

turns,  a  journey, 

srimile,  a.  slouch, 

mustar,  self-conceit. 

gustal,  affluence.,  ostentation, 

fada,  long ^  far. 

sonas,  prosperity, 

donas,  misfortune. 

ocras,  hunger, 

mills,  siveet, 

cumas,  2?oiver, 

tamall,  a  time.,  a  ivhile. 

Colm-cille,  Columkill, 

macalla,  an  echo^ 

marasgal,  a  marshal.,  herald, 

gramasgar,  a  rabble, 

calma,  brave. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


27 


EXERCISE  II , 

1.  Turus.  2.  All  turns.  3.  An  turns  agus  an  cimtas. 
4.  Mala  mor  agus  an  turus  fada.  5.  Ta  an  turus  fada. 
6.  Ta  an  doras  mor  agus  ta  an  cnoc  ard.  7.  Bas  obann 
agus  cuntas  olc.  8.  Aran  ban  agus  ciste  mor,  Ian.  9. 
Ta  an  capall  ban,  agus  ta  an  ciste  mor  Ian.  10.  File  'gus 
an  pobal,  clu  'gus  dan.  11.  Ciste  mills.  12.  Ta  an  ciste 
mor  agus  mills.  13.  File  dana  agus  focal  borb.  14. 
Suit  agus  solas,  dolas  agus  donas.  15.  An  marasgal 
calma  agus  an  capall  ban.  16.  Pobal  dilis,  port  agus  an 
bad.  17.  An  file  agus  an  macalla.  18.  Colm-cille  agus 
an  bard.     19.  Ta  an  capall  6g  mall,  agus  ta  se  fann  lag.* 

20.  Turus  mor  agus  cuntas  Ian, 
Gustal,  gas,  agus  duradan. 

21.  Focal  dana,  bord  a's  bas, 
Curam  granna,  gort  a's  gas. 

22.  Urlar  mor,  glan,  bord  a's  bonn, 
Arus,  mortus,  gort,  a's  clann. 

23.  Pobal  arsa,  capall  mall, 
Ciste  granna,  gort  a's  poll. 

24.  Gustal  a's  gort  a's  mortus  dana, 
Turus,  an  dos,  's  an  folt  ur,  granna. 

Translation, 

1.  A  journey.  2.  The  journey.  3.  Tlie  journey  and 
the  account.  4.  A  large  bag  and  the  long  journey.  5. 
The  journe}'  is  long.  6.  The  door  is  large  and  the  hill  is 
high.    7.  Sudden  death  and  a  bad  account.    8.  AVhite 


*  Ta  se  fann  lag.  (He  is  Aveary  and  weak.)  In  translating  this  sentence 
into  English,  the  adjectives,  "fann,"  "lag,"  must  be  connected  by  the  con- 
jiinction,  and.  In  Gaelic,  the  conjunction  is  used  to  connect  two  adjectives 
only  when  they  are  collectively  predicated  of  the  same  noun,  to  preclude  the 
possibility  of  one  of  them  being  taken  for  an  ordinarj-  qualifier.  In  case  of 
two  adjectives  referring  to  a  pronoun,  as  in  the  above  sentence,  the  con- 
junction  is  not  necessar5%  as  a  pronoun  admits  of  no  other  than  a  predicated 


28 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


bread  and  a  large,  full  chest.  9.  The  horse  is  white  and 
the  large  chest  is  full.  10.  A  poet  and  the  people,  fame 
and  a  poem.  11.  A  sweet  cake.  12.  The  cake  is  large 
and  sweet.  13.  A  bold  poet  and  a  haughty  word.  14. 
Mirth  and  solace,  dolor  and  misfortune.  15.  The  brave 
marshal  and  the  white  horse.  16.  A  faithful  people,  a 
harbor  and  the  boat.  17.  The  poet  and  the  echo.  18. 
Columkille  and  the  bard.  19.  The  young  horse  is  slow, 
and  he  is  weak  and  wear}-.  [  Nos.  20,  21,  22,  23,  and  24 
are  in  metre,  and  the  student  is  expected  to  make  his  o^m 
translation.] 

 :  o:  

LESSON  III. 

Combinations  of  Vowels  —  Diphthongs. 

A  diphthong  is  composed  of  two  vowels  coming  to- 
gether, without  any  consonant  intervening;  as  ua  in 
truant^  ea  in  fear.  Vowels  thus  combined  unite  in  three 
ways  :  (I.)  Each  vowel  is  distinctly  pronounced.  (II.) 
Both  vowels  coalesce  and  produce  a  sound  quite  different 
from  either.  (HI-)  One  of  the  vowels  only  is  heard, 
while  the  other  becomes  silent  or  nearly  so.  Aft^r  these 
three  modes  of  coalescing,  Gaelic  diphthongs  may  be  di- 
vided into  three  classes,  as  follow : 


adjective.  In  analogy  to  this,  the  modem  speaker  of  Gaelic  has  come  to 
omit  the  conjunction  even  between  two  adjectives  predicated  of  the  same 
noun.  Thus,  the  expression  "Ta  an  file  faun  lag,"  (the  wearj-  poet  is  weak) 
is  made  to  convey  the  same  meaning  as  "  Ta  an  file  faun  agus  lag,"  (the  poet 
is  weary  and  weak.)  The  difficulty  is  obviated,  however,  in  the  spoken  lan- 
guage, where  there  is  a  slight  pause  made  between  the  logical  subject  and 
the  predicate,  which  serves  to  draw  the  line,  as  it  were,  between  both. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


29 


Class  I.  This  class  comprises  those  diphthongs  in 
which  both  vowels  are  distinctly  sounded.  Only  two 
diphthongs  belong  to  this  class ;  namely,  ua  and  ia.  In 
these  diphthongs  both  vowels  are  not  of  equal  promi- 
nence, the  firet  being  somewhat  longer  than  the  second,* 
while  both  blend  together  to  form  07ie  syllable.  Examples: 

gual,  coal.  ciall,  sense. 

fuar,  cold.  nal,  generous. 

cluas,  an  ear.  sgian,  a  knife. 

uan,  a  lamb.  grian,  the  sun. 

Class  II.  Only  one  diphthong  belongs  to  this  class; 
namely,  ao.  This  diphthong  sounds  like  ao  in  gaol^  or 
the  first  vowel,  in  where ,  but  the  consonants  before 
and  after  it  are  both  broad.  When  ao  is  final  —  that  is 
when  not  followed  by  a  consonant  —  it  is  written  ae.f 
Examples : 

gaol,  a  relation.        '  saor,  cheap;  free. 

maor,  a  steivard.  daor,  dear;  dire. 

aos,  an  age.  aol,  lime. 

caol,  slender.  rae,  the  moon. 


*  In  the  Northern  dialect,  these  two  proper  diphthongs  ( ia  and  ua )  are 
converted  into  improper  diphthongs,  by  false  analogy;  that  is,  the  second 
A  owel,  a,  of  both  diphthongs  is  suppressed  in  the  pronunciation,  while  the 
first  vowel,  i  of  the  one  and  u  of  the  other,  is  the  only  vowel  pronounced. 

A  good  illustration  of  this  corrupt  pronunciation  of  the  proper  diphthongs 
(See  foot-note  page  23)  may  be  afforded  by  the  following  rhyming  couplets, 
taken  from  Dr.  McHale's  Gaelic  translation  of  Homer's  Iliad: 

Thus,  the  proper  diphthong  ia  is  made  to  rhyme  -with  the  improper  diph- 
thong io  ( i.  e.  with  the  single  vowel  i )  in  the  following  couplet : 
"  Go  subhach,  gach  duine  d'  ith  do  reir  a  mhian, 

'Gus  d'  ol  go  saoitheamhail  'gus  go  suairc  an  fion."  —  Book  I.;  line  593. 
The  proper  diphthong  ua  is  made  to  rhyme  with  the  single  vowel  u  in  the 
following  couplet: 

"  Idir  fir  a's  mna,  mo  bhriathra  'gus  mo  run 

Ta  daingean  fastuighth'  i  mo  chroidhe  go  buan."  — Book  VIII.;  line?, 
t  In  the  Northern  dialect  (including  Ulster  and  Connacht),  the  diphthong 
ao  receives  a  light,  drawn,  slender  sound,  like  that  of  the  single  vowel  i,  or 


30 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


Class  III.  This  class  comprises  those  diphthongs  in 
Avhich  one  vowel  only  is  heard,  like  ou  in  four^  journey^ 
etc.  They  are,  ei,  ea,  lo,  ai,  6i,  ui,  eo,  iu.  One  of  the 
vowels  in  a  diphthong  of  this  class  —  that  over  wliich  the 
accent  mark  is  placed  —  may  be  termed  the  audible  or 
pro7n{ne7it  vowel,  the  other  being  known  as  the  inaudible 
or  silent  vowel.  But  it  is  characteristic  of  this  prominent 
vowel  that  in  some  words  it  is  long,  like  o  in  four^  while 
in  other  words  it  is  short,  like  o  in  journey;  for  which 
reason  these  are  often  called  variable  diphthongs,  more 
correctly  improper  diphthongs. 

EI. 

The  first  vowel,  e,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  this  diph 
thong,  the  second  vowel,  i,  being  inaudible  or  silent; 
consequently  the  sound  of  this  diphthong  is  that  of  the 
single  vowel  e  in  there',  as  "feis,"  a  festival.  When  the 
diphthong  is  short  it  sounds  like  e  in  belt;  as  "  geilt,"  a 
lunatic.    Examples : 

beim,  a  wound.  leirg,  a  plain. 

geim,  a  belloiv.  meirg,  rust. 

sgleip,  shoiv.  geir,  tallotv. 

speis,  heed^  concern.  breis,  a  superiiuity. 

The  presence  of  the  silent  vowel,  i,  in  this  diphthong  is 
determined  by  the  slender  sound  of  the  following  con- 
sonant, for,  though  the  letter  e  is  itself  a  slender  vowel, 
it  exerts  no  influence  in  making  slender,  or  attenuating.,  as 
it  is  called,  the  consonant  which  follows  it.  (See  page  9.) 


"ee"  in  the  English  word  "feel,"  with,  of  course,  the  preceding  and  follow 
ing  consonants  broad.  This  sound  is  well  illustrated  in  the  followiiiir  couplet 
from  Dr.  McHule's  Tliad,  where  ao  is  made  to  form  an  as.«^nai<.co  with  io 
(i.  e.  with  the  single  vowel  i.) 

"  Las  fraoch  an  oirc  go  li-obann  suas  mar  chaor, 

Do  bhagair  dioghaltas,  a's  rinn  a  bhagairt  tior.'=  —  T-ooU  T.;  liu*»  'rl 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


31 


EA. 

The  first  vowel,  e,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  this  diph- 
thong, the  second  vowel,  a,  being  inaudible  or  silent; 
consequently  this  diphthong  sounds  like  the  single  vowel 
e,  except  that  the  consonant  following  it  is  broad,  as 
shown  by  the  presence  of  the  silent  broad  vowel,  a. 
Examples  : 

fear  (feur),*  grass,  fear,  a  man. 

sgeal  (sgeul),  a  story.  bean,  a  ivoinan. 

beal  (beul),  a  month.  geal,  bright. 

mear  (meur),  a  finger.  deas,  pretty. 

When  this  diphthong  is  long  the  vowel  u  is  inserted, 
instead  of  a,  for  a  silent  vowel ;  but  when  the  diphthong 


*  Fear  (feur).  Words  in  Mrhicli  tbe  diphthong  ea  (loag)  was  anciently  em- 
ployed are  now  spelt  with  the  diphthong  eu  (that  is,  in  other  words,  substi- 
tuting  one  silent  vowel,  u,  for  another  silent  vowel,  a).  This  innovation  was 
brought  iuto  use  as  early  as  1650,  by  the  celebrated  Celtic  scholar  and  his- 
torian, Dudle}'  Forbes  (Dubhaltach  Mac  Firbisigh).  The  principal  advantage 
of  the  substitution  lies  mainly  in  the  fact  that  it  dispenses  with  the  accent 
mark,  on  the  prominent  vowel,  which  otherwise  would  be  requisite,  in  order 
to  distinquish  the  diphthong  ea  when  long  from  the  same  diphthong  when 
short. 

Another  good  reason  why  eu  should  be  used,  provisionally  at  least,  in 
preference  to  ea  (long),  is  this:  We  have  already  learned  (See  foot-note  page 
23)  that  in  Munster  the  diphthong  ea  (long)  is  corruptly  sounded  like  the 
proper  diphthong  ia,  or  "ea"  in  the  English  word  "  fear.*'  Now,  if  we  substi- 
tute eu  for  ea,  the  Munsterman  who  reads  the  language  will  have  no  pretext 
for  infusing  the  sound  of  a  into  this  diphthong,  or  corrupting  its  prominent 
vowel,  e,  into  the  sound  of  i. 

It  should  be  liere  noted  that  eu,  in  a  number  of  monosyllables,  is  suscep- 
tible of  being  changed  to  eo,  by  poetic  license.  Thus,  the  word  "  feur  "  may 
be  also  written  '-feor";  "meur"  "  meor  sgeul  "  "sgeol,"etc.  These 
words,  then,  may  be  said  to  have  each  two  forms:  the  primary  foi-m,  with  the 
diphthong  eu,  and  the  secondary  form,  with  the  diphthong  eo.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  primary  ami  the  secondary  form,  both  of  which  are  iden- 
tical in  meaning,  is,  that  the  former  is  used  in  prose  and  the  latter  in  poetry. 
'  Feur"  is  a  prosaic  form,  and  "feor"  a  poetic  form,  both  of  which  denote 
the  same  thing. 

And  in  this  connection,  it  may  be  well  to  remember  that  there  are,  in 
Gaelic,  quite  a  number  of  words  which  have  two  forms,  identical  in  meaning, 
one  of  which  forms  is  relegated  to  one  sort  of  discourse,  and  the  other  to  a 
different  sort  of  discourse.  Later  on,  therefore,  we  shall  have  some  more  to 
say  I'egarding  primai-y  and  secondary  forms. 


62 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


is  short  the  a  is  retained,  because  the  accent  is  then 
shifted  from  e  to  a.  So  that,  as  the  short  diphthong  is 
now  pronounced  in  monosyllables  and  in  the  first  syllable 
of  polysyllables,  the  a,  and  not  the  e,  is  the  prominent 
vowel.f  Ea,  short,  is  therefore  sounded  like  ea  in  heart; 
as  "fear,"  a  man;  "bean,"  a  woman.  And  in  some  words 
also  the  a  is  lengthened ;  as  "  ceard,"  a  crafty  etc. 

10. 

The  first  vowel,  i,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  this  diph- 
thong, the  second  vowel,  o,  being  silent;  consequently 
tliis  diphthong  sounds  like  the  single  vowel  i,  except  that 
the  consonant  following  it  is  broad,  as  shown  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  silent  broad  vowel,  o.    Examples  : 

cios,  rent.  fios,  knowledge. 

fion,  ivine.  lios,  a  fort. 

fior,  true.  sgrios,  a  destruction. 

siol,  seed.  mior,  myrrh. 

"When  this  diphthong  is  short,  there  is  a  tendency,  ob- 
servable in  the  spoken  language,  to  bring  the  silent  vowel, 
0,  into  undue  prominence;  as  " sioc," J (^lyronounced 


fit  is  only  in  monosyllables  and  in  the  first  syllable  of  polysyllables  that 
the  first  vowel,  e,  loses  its  prominence  when  the  diphthong  is  short.  When 
the  diphthong  occurs  in  the  second  or  third  syllable  of  a  word,  the  e  is  then, 
as  it  ought  to  be,  prominent  (though  obscure) ;  e,  g.,  "  muilleann,"  a  mill, 
(pron.  mul-len);  "Caiseal,"  Cashel,  (pron.  kha-shel).  The  exception  to  this 
rule  are  words  of  two  syllables  ending  in  ch,  which,  in  Munster,  have  the 
accent  so  strongly  placed  on  the  final  gutteral  that  the  vowel  a,  of  the  diph- 
thong ea  (short)  is  decidedly  brought  into  prominence;  e.g.,  "coileach,"  a 
rooster,  (pron.  kulh-ach) ;  "aireach,"  careful,  (pron.  ir-rach). 

In  Old  Gaelic,  the  first  vowel,  e,  of  this  diphthong,  maintained  its  promi- 
nence in  all  cases,  when  short  as  well  as  when  long.  This  old  pronunciation 
even  yet  lives  in  the  counties  of  Louth  and  Monaghan,  where  the  vowel  a,  of 
the  diphthong  ea,  is  never  brought  into  prominence.  Thus,  "fear"  is  pron 
ounced  "fer";  "bean"  "ben";  "geal"  "gel";  "deas"  "des,"  etc. 

J  Some  monosyllables  containing  io  (short)  change  that  diphthong  into  ea 
when,  in  the  course  of  inflection,  they  take  an  additional  syllable;  as  "  lios," 
"feasa";  "lios,"  "leasa";  "sioc,"  "seaca,"  etc. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


33 


shook).  This  is  especially  noticeable  in  the  Munster  dia- 
lect, when  the  diphthong  is  followed  by  nn  in  a  mono- 
syllable, the  silent  vowel  being  then  brought  into  prom- 
inence and  sounded  like  o  in  do^  or  u  in  tune;  as  "  fionn," 
fair^  ( pronounced  foon.') 

AI. 

The  first  vowel,  a,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  this  diph- 
thong, the  second  vowel,  i,  being  silent.  Ai  sounds, 
therefore,  like  the  single  vowel  a,  except  that  the  conson- 
ant following  it  is  slender,  as  shown  by  the  presence  of 
the  silent  slender  vowel,  i.    Examples : 

stair,  a  history,  stair,  a  paragraph. 

ait,  a  2?laee.  ait,  queer; 

sraid,  a  street.  bail,  a  blessing. 

lair,  a  mare.  stail  a  stallion. 

When  ai  (short)  appears  in  the  second  or  tliird  syllable 
of  a  word,  the  silent  vowel,  i,  is  brought  into  prominence ; 
as  "carraig,"  a  rock,  Q)ron.  kar-rig')  ;  '^Padraig,"  Patrick, 
Qyron.  pau-dhrig).  Compare  the  English  diphthong  ai  in 
such  words  as  curtain,  certain,  Britain,  again,  etc. 

01. 

The  first  vowel,  o,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  tliis  diph- 
thong, the  second  vowel,  i,  being  silent.  Oi  sounds, 
therefore,  like  the  single  vowel  o,  except  that  the  con- 
sonant following  it  is  slender,  as  shown  by  the  presence 
of  the  silent  slender  vowel,  i.    Examples  : 

coir,  just,  right.  sgoil,  a  school. 

gloir,  glory.  toil,  will. 

toir,  a  jmrsuit.  toirt,  bulk,  substantiality. 

moin,         moor;  mountain,  coirt,  bark  of  trees. 


34 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


When  oi  (short)  appears  in  the  second  or  third  syllable 
of  a  word,  the  silent  vowel,  i,  is  brought  into  prominence  ; 
as  "anois,"  now^  (^pron,  an-nish^;  "anoir,"  easterly^ 
(^pron,  an-^ir^. 

UI. 

The  first  vowel,  u,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  this  diph- 
thong, the  second  vowel,  i,  being  silent.  Ui  sounds, 
therefore,  like  the  single  vowel  u,  except  that  the  con- 
sonant following  it  is  slender,  as  shown  by  the  presence 
of  the  silent  slender  vowel,  i.    Examples  : 

cuis,  a  cause.  full,  blood, 

suil,  an  eye.  cruit,  a  harp. 

dull,  desire;  an  element.  cuil,  a  fly. 

smuit,  dust^  mist.  duig,  a  pang. 

When  ui  (short)  occurs  in  the  second  or  third  syllable 
of  a  word,  the  silent  vowel,  i,  is  brought  into  prominence ; 
as  "tarcuisne,"  contempt  (^pron.  tar-khish-ne^ . 

EO. 

The  second  vowel,  o,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  this 
diphthong,  the  first  vowel,  e;-  being  silent.  Eo  sounds, 
therefore,  like  the  single  vowel  o,  except  that  the  con- 
sonant preceding  it  is  slender,  as  shown  by  the  presence 
of  the  silent  slender  vowel,  e.    Examples  : 

seol,  a  sail.  deoch,  a  drink. 

ceol,  music.  eochair,  a  key. 

meon,  a  habit.  Eochaidh,  Hugo. 

leon,  a  lion.   

There  are  only  three  words  in  the  modern  language  in 
which  this  diphthong  is  short  in  sound;  viz.,  "deoch,"  a 
drink;  "eochair,"  a        and  "Eochaidh,"  Hugo.    In  all 


OKTHOGPvAPHY. 


35 


other  words  the  diphthong  is  long  and  need  not  take  the 
accent  mark. 

lU. 

The  second  vowel,  n,  is  the  prominent  vowel  in  this 
diphthong,  the  first  vowel,  i,  being  silent.  lu  sounds, 
therefore,  like  the  single  vowel  u,  except  that  the  con- 
sonsLut  preceding  it  is  slender,  as  shown  by  the  presence  of 
the  silent  slender  vowel,  i.    Examples : 

slur,  a  sister.  fliuch,  wet. 

fiu,  worth.  tiugh,  thick. 

liugh,  a  scream.  andiugh,  to-day. 

diu,  a  place.   

There  are  only  three  words  in  the  modern  language  in 
which  this  diphthong  is  short  in  sound;  viz.,  "fliuch," 
wet;  "tiugh,"  thick,  and  "andiugh,''  to-day.  In  all  other 
words  the  diphthong  is  long  and  need  not  take  the  dis- 
tinguishing accent  mark. 

The  eight  improper  diphthongs  (or  those  of  the  third 
class,  according  to  the  above  classification)  form  a  very 
important  factor  in  the  orthography  of  the  Gaelic  lan- 
guage. When  they  are  thoroughly  comprehended  the 
very  secret  of  Gaelic  orthograph}^  will  have  been  mas- 
tered. The  study  of  them  is  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  study  of  the  sounds  of  the  consonants,  already 
set  forth  (pages  3  to  7),  that  it  may  be  well  to  impress 
upon  the  student  the  advisability  of  again  taldng  up  the 
study  of  the  consonants  in  connection  with  the  improper 
diphthongs.  There  is  one  thing  in  connection  with  these 
improper  diphthongs  which  the  student  can  never  expect 
to  understand,  until  he  first  understands  the  difference 
between  the  two  sounds  —  broad  and  slender  —  of  every 


36 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


one  of  the  twelve  consonants,  and  that  is  the  nature  and 
function  of  the  silent  vowel. 

The  silent  vowel  of  an  improper  diphthong  is  used  to 
regulate  the  sound  of  the  consonant  next  to  it.  Thus, 
for  instance,  in  the  word  "cuis,"  (which  is  universally 
pronounced  koosK)^  the  broad  vowel,  u,  is  the  only  vowel 
discernible  to  the  ear.  Now,  if  this  were,  in  reality,  the 
only  vowel  in  the  word,  it  is  certain  that  it  would  give  a 
broad  sound  not  only  to  the  preceding  c  but  also  to  the 
following  s.  But,  as  the  pronunciation  will  show,  the 
following  s  has  its  slender  sound  (that  of  &7i  in  sldp')^  and 
as  we  know  that  this  slender  sound  must  be  occasioned  by 
a  slender  vowel  (for  otherwise  the  s,  like  the  c,  vrould 
come  under  the  influence  of  the  broad  vowel,  u),  we  con- 
clude, therefore,  that  there  does  exist  a  slender  vowel  be- 
tween the  broad  vowel,  u,  and  the  following  attenuated 
consonant,  s.  Consequently,  instead  of  spelling  this  word 
v\'ith  a  single  vowel  (cus),  it  must  be  spelt  with  the  im- 
proper diphthong  ui  (cuis).  Whenever,  therefore,  a  con- 
sonant sounded  along  with  an  audible  vowel  has  a  timbre 
different  from  that  which  the  audible  vowel  would  ofive  it. 
it  is  certain  that  an  inaudible  vowel  intervenes,  to  account 
for  the  sound  of  the  consonant. 

Tliis  brings  us  now  to  the  very  important  fact,  that  the 
existence  of  the  silent  vowel  in  an  improper  diphthong  is 
to  be  determined  only  by  the  sound  of  the  consonant 
which  it  influences.  We  have,  in  any  particular  case,  onl\- 
negative  proof  of  its  presence.  From  the  fact  that  \\iien- 
ever  its  use  is  made  requisite,  it  is  always  employed  in 
connection  with,  and  to  regulate  the  sound  of,  a  con- 
sonant, the  silent  vowel  of  an  improper  diphthong  may,  on 
that  account,  be  very  appropriately  called  the  consonant 
voweL  The  distinction  implied  in  tliis  (new)  name  the 
student  should  well  bear  in  mind,  as  we  shall  hence- 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


37 


forward  refer  to  the  two  vowel  elements  of  an  improper 
diphthong  as  the  prominent  voivel  and  the  consonant  vowel. 

In  all  the  improper  dij)hthongs  —  with  the  exception 
of  ei  —  it  will  be  noticed  that  when  the  prominent  vowel 
is  broad  the  accompanj-ing  consonant  vowel  is  slender,  and 
when  the  prominent  vowel  is  slender  the  accompanying 
consonant  vowel  is  broad.  Tliis  regularity  is  of  utmost 
importance,  as  it  enables  the  student,  in  any  particular 
case,  to  infer  the  nature  of  an  omitted  consonant  vowel 
(for  consonant  vowels  are  generally  omitted  in  old  writ- 
ings.) If,  in  writing  the  word  "cuis,"  the  consonant 
vowel  be  omitted  and  such  omission  indicated  by  an  apos- 
trophe, or  au}^  other  conventional  mark  —  thus  "cu's" — it 
is  evident  that  the  reader  can  infer  from  the  nature  of  the 
remaining  prominent  vowel,  which  belongs  to  the  broad 
class,  that  the  omitted  consonant  vowel  belongs  to  the 
slender  class.  In  like  manner  may  the  consonant  vowel 
be  inferred  in  '-c'ol,"  music;  "s'ur,"  a  sister ;  "c'ard,  a 
craft;  "sta'r,"  a  story;  "glo'r,"  glory.  In  words  like 
*'fe'r,"  grass^  and  "ci's,"  rent.,  we  can  infer  that  the 
omitted  consonant  vowel  belongs  to  the  broad  class, 
whereas  the  retained  prominent  vowel  is  of  the  opposite 
slender  class.  In  some  of  our  Gaelic  manuscripts  the 
omission  of  the  consonant  vowel  is  indicated  by  two  dots, 
resembling  a  colon,  which  are  placed  in  its  stead ;  thus, 
''cu;s,''  '-feir,'*  "ciis,''  etc.*    In  the  most  ancient  manu- 


*  For  an  illustration  of  this  method  of  contraction  tlie  student  is  referred 
to  the  "  ^sriscellanj'  of  the  Celtic  Society,"  w  herein  are  to  be  found  a  number 
of  historical  poems  by  Giolla  Brighde  Mac  Coumidhe  and  others,  in  which 
this  sj'stem  of  contracting-  the  improper  diphthongs,  by  omitting  the  con- 
sonant vowel  and  supplying  its  place  with  two  dots,  is  employed.  But  it 
must  be  observed  that  this  method  of  contraction  is  not  carried  to  its  full 
length  in  the  orthography  of  the  poems  referred  to,  for  onlj-  the  diphthong  io 
is  found  thus  contracted.  Thus,  for  example,  "giolla"  is  written  "gi:lla,*' 
"cios"  is  written  "  ci:  s,"  and  "fion"  is  written  "fl:n,"  etc.  The  two  dots 
are  placed  almost  directly  over  the  retained  prominent  vowel,  and  bear  a 
striking  resemblance  to  an  inverted  diceresis.  It  maybe  intended  by  these 


38 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


scripts  the  omission  of  the  consonant  vowel  is  not  indi- 
cated by  any  mark  whatever,  it  being  left  to  the  reader's 
judgment  to  justify  the  sound  of  the  consonant. 

In  many  instances  we  find  the  consonant  vowel  re- 
tained, but  written  in  a  subordinate  position,  somewhat 
after  the  manner  of  the  Greek  Iota  subscript.  A  good 
illustration  of  this  are  the  familiar  contractions  used  in 
some  manuscripts  for  the  diphthongs  ea  and  ui. 


two  dots  to  notify  the  reader  that,  in  the  syllable  in  which  they  are  placed, 
two  vowels  are  understood  to  be  employed  (one  of  which  is  left  to  be  in- 
ferred.)  Wliy  it  is  that  the  consonant  vowel  should  be  omitted  from  the  diph- 
thong io  and  retained  in  all  the  other  improper  diphthongs?  is  a  question  that 
cannot  be  very  satisfactorily  answered.  Perhaps  it  may  have  seemed  to  the 
writer,  or  rather  transcriber,  of  those  poems  that  the  consonant  vowel  was 
less  indispensable  in  io  than  in  any  other  of  the  improper  diphthongs;  or 
perhaps  again,  he  did  not  wish  to  encumber  his  pages  with  too  many  dots. 

The  student  should  here  bear  in  mind  that  this  method  of  omitting  the 
consonant  vowel  iu  Gaelic  is  not  on  a  par  with  the  sj'stem  emploj'ed  bj-  some 
English  lexicographers  of  omitting  certain  useless  vowels  in  English.  We  all 
know  that  Webster  has  omitted  the  vowel  o  from  the  diphthong  ou  at  the  end 
of  certain  dissyllabic  words.  For  example,  the  words  neighbour,  labour, 
vapour,  colour,  vigour,  rigour,  are  written  in  the  United  States,  on  tlie  au- 
thority of  Webster,  thus  neighbor,  labor,  vapor,  color,  vigor,  rigor,  etc.  The 
best  authorities  agree,  indeed,  that  some  of  those  silent  vowels  in  English  are 
simply  useless,  because  they  suit  no  purpose,  and  consequently  the  general 
tendency  has  been  to  discard  them  altogether.  In  Gaelic,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  silent  vowel  cannot,  in  any  case,  be  absolutely  discarded  without  violat- 
ing the  sound  of  a  consonant :  but,  on  the  contrary,  wherever  it  is  omitted,  for 
contraction  purposes,  the  reader  must  always  suppose  it  to  be  present  and 
regulate  the  consonant  sound  accordingly. 

There  are  employed,  even  in  English,  certain  silent  vowels  which  are 
identical  in  every  respect  witli  the  consonant  vowels  of  Gaelic  orthography. 
Now,  there  is  a  rule  in  English  Grammar  which  says  that  primitive  words 
ending  in  e,  wlien  they  take  the  derivative  sufRx  -able,  drop  the  final  e;  as 
sale,  salable;  compare,  comparable;  receive,  receivable,  etc.  In  this  case  it 
would  be  utterlj-  useless  to  retain  the  linal  silent  e  of  the  primitive  form  in 
the  derivative  form.  If,  however,  we  take  primitives  whose  final  e  is  pre- 
ceded immediately  by  c  or  g,  such  as  notice,  change,  marriage,  etc.,  and  to 
them  we  add  the  suffix  -able,  we  are  not  permitted  to  drop  the  final  e;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  this  otherwise  useless  vowel  must  be  retained  in  the  derivative 
forms  in  order  to  preserve  the  slender  sound  of  the  preceding  c  or  g  of  the 
primitive  forms,  thus  noticeable,  changeable,  marriageable.  The  silent  e  in 
these  words,  being  used  simply  to  preserve  the  sound  of  a  consonant,  is  iden- 
tical with  what,  in  Gaelic,  we  have  known  as  the  consonant  vowel.  We  have 
already  learned  (page  5)  that  c  and  g  are  the  only  consonants  in  English  that 
have  a  decidedly  broad  and  slender  sound.  In  Gaelic  everj-  consonant  has  a 
broad  and  a  slender  sound,  consequently  consonant  vowels  are  more  prev- 
alent in  Gaelic  than  in  Eiiglish. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


39 


The  omission  of  the  consonant  vowel  is,  in  reality,  a 
method  of  contraction  employed  systematically  by  our 
ancient  scribes  to  save  time  and  parchment.  It  is  not  to 
be  assumed,  as  some  have  done,  that  because  the  con- 
sonant vowel  of  modern  Gaelic  is  found  omitted  in  the 
most  ancient  manuscripts  we  possess,  it  therefore  had  no 
legitimate  existence  in  the  ancient  grammatical  structure 
of  the  language.  If,  when  those  old  books  were  written, 
the  strict  grammatical  requirements  of  the  language  had 
been  consulted,  it  is  manifest  that  the  consonant  vowel 
would  never  have  been  dispensed  with.  The  fact  is  that 
the  consonant  vowel,  though  silent  and  used  ostensibly  to 
regulate  the  sound  of  a  consonant,  is  no  less  effective  in 
regulating  the  sound  of  the  prominent  vowel  with  which 
it  is  written.  Thus,  for  example,  the  prominent  vowel,  o, 
in  the  word  "ceol,"  assumes  a  graver  sound  than  the 
single  o  in  the  word  "mor:"  and  this  relative  intensity  of 
sound  of  the  prominent  vowel  is  due  mainly  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  silent  consonant  vowel  accompanying  it.  It 
will,  hence,  seem  obvious  that  the  consonant  vowel  has, 
in  every  improper  diphthong,  a  legitimate  existence,  and 
should  therefore  never  be  omitted. 

The  two  diphthongs  ea  and  io  (short),  in  the  second 
syllable  of  a  word,  have  the  slender  vowel  prominent,  and 
as  a  short  slender  vowel  is,  in  such  position,  always  ob- 
scure, it  follows  that  ea  and  io  are  often  confounded. 
Thus  "muilleann,"  a  mill,  is  quite  often  written  "muil- 
lionn,"  and  "  Caiseal,"  Cashel,  is  often  written  "  Caisiol." 
Modern  writers  prefer  to  use  the  diphthong  ea  in  all  such 
cases,  except  in  certain  words  where  the  etymology  favors 
the  diphthong  io;  such  as  cuilfhionn,"  fair-haired,  (ap- 
plied to  a  woman);  "druimfliionn,"  white-hacked,  (ap- 
plied to  a  cow.) 


40 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


The  three  diphthongs  ai,  oi,  ui,  (short),  in  the  second 
syllable  of  a  word,  have  the  slender  vowel,  i,  prominent, 
the  broad  vowel  becoming  correspondingly  silent.  This 
gives  the  three  diphthongs  the  same  sound  —  that  of  i 
short — in  the  position  indicated:  and  consequently,  in 
old  writings,  we  find  them  written  indifferently.  The 
Four  Masters  write  the  word  ••carraig"  in  three  ways, 
thus  "^carraig,"  "carroig,"  "carruig,"  without  using  any 
discrimination  whatever.  Modern  writers  prefer  to  use 
the  diphthong  ai  in  the  second  syllable  of  words,  except 
in  a  few  cases  where  oi  or  ui  seems  more  suitable ;  such 
as  "anois,"  noiv;     tarcuisne,'  contempt. 

There  is  a  tendency,  observable  in  the  spoken  language 
of  the  present  day,  to  suppress  the  sound  of  the  broad 
vowel  of  the  three  diphthongs  ai,  oi,  ui,  not  only  in  the 
second  syllable  of  words,  as  above  stated,  but  also  in  the 
first  syllable  and  even  in  monosjdlables.  This  is  well 
illustrated  in  the  Munster  pronunciation  of .  dissyllables 
ending  in  ch  —  such  as  cailleach,"  a  hag^  (^j^ron.  khil- 
lack);  coileach,''  a  rooster^  Qpron.  khil-lach);  "tuir- 
seach,  '  tired^  Qpron.  thir-shach^ — in  which  the  accent  is 
so  strongly  placed  on  the  final  syllable  that  it  completely 
sinks  the  sound  of  the  prominent  vowel  in  the  first  sji- 
lable.  We  have  already  shown  (See  foot-note  page  23) 
that  in  Connacht  the  prominent  vcwel  of  oi  is  sounded 
like  e ;  as  coirce,"  oats,  (^pron.  Jceirke.}  This  corrupt 
sound  of  the  prominent  vowels  o  and  a  obtains  also,  in  a 
few  words,  in  the  Munster  dialect;  as  "troid,"  strife, 
(^pron.  thred)  ;  '^air,"  on,  (^pron  eir.) 

This  suppression  or  corruption  of  the  prominent  vowel 
of  an  improper  diphthong  occurs  only  when  the  diphthong 
is  short  —  that  is,  when  the  prominent  vowel  itself  is 
short  —  and  never  when  the  diphthong  is  long.  It  has 
been  brought  about  mainly  through  laziness  on  the  part 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


41 


of  the  speakers  and  custodians  of  the  language  for  the 
past  two  centuries  to  maintain  the  identity  of  the  short 
vowel  sound.  Walker  says  of  the  English  that  "  Where 
vowels  are  under  the  accent,  the  prince  and  the  lowest  of 
the  people,  with  very  few  exceptions,  jDronounce  them  in 
the  same  manner:  but  the  unaccented  vowels,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  former,  have  a  distinct,  open  sound ;  wliile 
the  latter  often  totally  sink  them,  or  change  them  into 
some  other  sound." 

To  properl}^  pronounce  an  improper  diphthong,  then, 
the  student  should  always  maintain  the  sound  of  its  prom- 
inent vowel,  when  short  as  well  as  when  long ;  except  in 
certain  eases  where,  according  to  rule,  that  vowel  loses 
prominence  and  the  accompanying  consonant  vowel  as- 
sumes it. 


Vocabulary. 

The  following  vocabulary,  composed  for  the  most  part 
of  words  of  one  syllable,  is  intended  to  illustrate  the 
sounds  of  the  twelve  diphthongs.  First  in  order  come 
the  six  "Long  Diphthongs,"  or  those  which  have  always 
the  same  invariable,  long  sound;  and  next  come  the  six 
"Variable  Diphthongs,"  or  those  which,  in  some  words, 
are  long,  and  in  other  words  are  short. 

THE  SIX  LONG  DIPHTHONGS. 

suan,  slumber,  duan,  an  ode, 

cuas,  a  cave.  sguab,  a  hroom^  a  sioeep. 

tuar,  an  omen;  hleach-yard,    buan,  durable,,  lasting, 

dual,  inheritance,  ruag,  a  rout, 

fiar,  slanting^  awry,  iasg,  fish, 

ciar,  hlaek,  rian,  a  sign^  track, 

mian,  mind,,  ivill^  desire,  cian,  distant^  remote, 

pian,  torment,  srian,  a  bridle. 


42 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


maol,  hald^  blunt. 
taom,  a  fit^  plague, 
faon,  void^  exhausted. 
caor,  a  berry;  thunderbolt. 
leun,  sadness,  grief. 
seun,  luck,  prosperity. 
breug,  a  lie. 
geug,  an  arm,,  branch. 
ceol,  music. 

leor,  abundant,  sufficient. 

eol,  knowledge. 

ceo,  fog,  mist. 

siur,  a  sister. 

gliu,  glew. 

fiu,  worth. 

liugh,  a  scream. 


braon,  a  drop. 

craos,  a  craw;  gluttony. 

aor,  air. 

cae,  leisure. 

geui',  sharp;  sour. 

eun,  a  bird. 

gleus,  tackle. 

eug,  extinction,  death. 

beo,  alive,  living. 

gleo,  noise,  tumult. 

seol,  a  sai7. 

reo,  frost. 

gniud,  a  whine. 

diu,  a  place. 

trius,  trowsers. 

giusta,  a  clown. 


THE  SIX  VARIABLE  DIPHTHONGS. 


sgail,  a  glare,  shadoiv. 
grain,  hatred. 
cain,  tribute,  exaction. 
cairn,  fault,  blemish. 
poit,  excess  of  drinking. 
moid,  a  voiv. 
coip,  a  copy;  troop. 
doid,  hand. 

cuil,  corner,  depository. 
gnuis,  visage. 
uir,  earth. 
suil,  a?i 

reim,  reign,  sway. 
meinn, 

leir,  manifest. 

ceim,  a  s^gp,  grade;  dignity. 


tais,  humid. 
dair,  an 
fail,  hiccough. 
carraig,  a  rock. 
sgoilt,  a  cleft,  split. 
troid,  strife. 
toil,  ^7ie  will. 
anois,  now. 
cuil,  <7^/?^. 
cuid,  part,  portion. 
muir,  sea. 
tarcuisne,  contempt. 
geit,  a  start. 
Neid,  il/ar^. 
geilt,  a  lunatic. 
ceist,  a  question. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


43 


dfon,  shelter^  protection, 
sfor,  constant. 
lion,  flax, 
cnon,  ivithered. 
ceard,  a  crafty  trade, 
geaiT,  sJiort^  curt, 
feaiT,  better, 
millean,  blame. 


crios,  girdle;  zone, 
smior,  ^narrow, 
slios,  slope, 
cion,  fondness, 
ceart,  7'ight, 
meas,  esteem, 
tearc,  rare, 
fireann,  male. 


EXERCISE  IIL 

1.  Ta  an  rae  geal  agus  ta  an  speir  ard.  2.  Ta  an 
sgian  geur.  3.  Bad  mor,  fada  agus  seol  ard.  4.  Ta  an 
seol  ard  agus  ta  an  turus  fada.  5.  Fear  calma  agus  an 
leon.  6.  Suan  fada  agus  ceol  binn.  7.  Giusta  borb  agus 
an  capall  deas.  8.  Ciste  milis  agus  im  ur.  9.  Cuis  agus 
teist,  fear  agus  tarcuisne.  10.  Fear  6g  agus  cuis  arsa. 
11.  Tci  an  teist  ait.  12.  Cruit  agus  ceol,  bard  agus  sgoil. 
13.  Ta  an  toil  saor.  14.  Ta  fion  daor.  15.  Dun  mor 
agus  ceol  binn.  16.  Stair  arsa  agus  cuntas  ffor.  17. 
Carraig  ard  agus  ait  olc.  18.  Ta  an  cnoc  ard  fiar,  agus 
ta  an  capall  6g  ban.  19,  Ta  iasg  ur  saor  agus  tii  tion 
daor.  20.  Ta  an  fear  ard  agus  ta  se  lorn,  crion.  21.  Ta 
tii  ceart. 

22.  Cruit  a's  ceol  dea.s,  seol  a's  grian, 
Giusta  mor,  glic,  bron  a's  pian. 

23.  Ta  an  cnoc  mor,  arsa  ard  a's  fiar. 
An  capall  ban  's  an  mala  ciar. 

Translation. 

1.  The  moon  is  bright  and  the  sky  is  high.  2.  The 
knife  is  sharp.  3.  A  large,  long  boat  and  a  high  sail. 
4.  The  sail  is  high  and  the  journey  is  long.  5.  A  brave 
man  and  the  lion.  6.  Long  slumber  and  melodious  mu- 
sic.    7.   A  haughty  clown  and  the  nice  horse.     8.  A 


44 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


sweet  cake  and  fresh  butter.  9.  A  cause  and  a  testi- 
mony, a  man  and  contempt.  10.  A  young  man  and  an 
ancient  cause.  11.  The  testimony  is  queer.  12.  ^  harp 
and  music,  a  bard  and  a  school.  13.  The  will  is  free. 
14.  Wine  is  dear.  15.  A  large  fort  and  melodious  mu- 
sic. 16.  Ancient  history  and  a  true  account.  17.  A 
large  rock  and  a  bad  place.  18.  The  high  hill  is  slanting 
and  the  young  horse  is  white.  19.  Fresh  fish  is  cheap 
and  wine  is  dear.  20.  The  man  is  tall  and  he  is  lean  and 
decrepit.  21.  You  are  right.  (Nos.  22  and  23  are  in 
metre  and  the  student  is  expected  to  make  his  own  trans- 
lation.) 

 :  o :  

LESSON  IV. 

Combinations  of  Vowels  —  Triphthongs. 

A  triphthong  is  the  union  of  three  vowels  in  one  sound 
or  syllable.  There  are,  in  Gaelic,  five  triphthongs ;  viz., 
uai,  iai,  aoi,  eoi,  iui.  These  are  formed  from  the  five 
long  diphthongs  —  ua,  ia,  ao,  eo,  iu  —  simply  by  the  ad- 
dition of  the  slender  vowel  i,  which  is  practically  silent 
and  serves  only  to  attenuate  the  sound  of  the  following 
consonant.  The  sound  of  a  triphthong,  therefore,  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  that  of  the  diphthong  from  which  it  is 
formed,  except  that  the  consonant  following  the  triph- 
thong is  slender,  as  shown  by  the  presence  of  the  slender 
consonant  vowel,  i. 

The  triphthong  aoi  is  rather  exceptional  in  this  respect, 
for,  in  pronouncing  it,  the  ao  loses  its  characteristic  diph- 
thongal sound  and  serves  only  to  lengthen  the  sound  of 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


45 


the  following  i.  Aoi  is,  therefore,  sounded  like  uee  in 

queen;  as  "saoi,"  a  sage;  "  daoi,"  a  dunce.    Examples: — 

fuaim,  a  sound,  gruaim,  surliness^  glo.om, 

biail,  an  axe.  spiaire,  a  spy. 

baois,  folly.  caoin,  gentle. 

feoil,  meat^  flesh.  beoir,  heer. 

ciuin,  cahn^  silent.  stiuir,  a  steer. 


TRIPHTHONGS  OF  INFLECTION. 


Triphthongs  are  frequently  formed  in  the  course  of 
grammatical  inflection.  These  latter,  which  may  be 
called  Triphthongs  of  Inflection,  are  to  be  distinguished 
from  those  which  are  not  the  result  of  inflection.  The 
triphthong  of  inflection  is  generally  produced  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  genitive  (  or  possessive  )  case  singular  and 
also  the  nominative  case  plural  of  some  nouns.  To  illus- 
trate tills,  however,  it  will  be  necessary  to  glance  at  the 
manner  in  which  these  cases  are  formed  in  Gaelic. 

In  all  inflected  languages,  the  genitive,  or  possessive 
case  singular  and  the  nominative  case  plural  of  most 
nouns  are  identical  in  their  termination ;  that  is,  these 
two  cases  are  inflected  alike.  In  English,  both  are  dis- 
tinguished by  the  suflixed  consonant  s  (the  remnant  of  an 
older  syllable  is.^  Thus,  in  the  phrases,  the  sun^s  disk; 
the  moon^s  sphere;  the  mountain'' s  top;  we  have  the  nouns 
sun^  raoon^  and  mountain  in  the  genitive,  or  possessive 
case  singular.  But  the  nominative  case  plural  of  these 
nouns  is  formed  in  the  same  way;  thus,  sunSy  moons^ 
mountains. 

In  Gaelic  these  two  cases  are  formed  by  the  slender 
vowel  i,  wliich,  if  the  noun  to  be  inflected  ends  in  a 
slender  consonant,  appears  in  the  form  of  a  suffix.  Thus 
"tir,"  landy  forms  its  genitive  case  "tiri";  and  "sraid," 


46 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


a  street^  forms  its  genitive  case  "sraidi."  In  the  phrase 
"ceann  tiri,"  we  find  that  the  first  noun,  ^'ceann,"  a 
head,  end,  or  terminus,  is  in  its  nominative  case,  and  the 
accompanying  noun,  "tir,"  land,  is  in  its  genitive  case 
(tiri),  and  we  conclude,  from  this,  that  the  second  noun 
simply  possesses  the  first;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the 
first  noun  belongs,  or  pertains  to  the  second.  The  second 
noun  being  thus  the  possessor,  source,  or  origin  of  the 
first,  must  have  its  relationship  signalized  by  being  put  in 
the  so-called  genitive  case  (tiri.)  ''Ceann  tiri"  means, 
therefore,  a  head,  end,  or  terminus  belonging,  or  pertain- 
ing to  the  land — '''land^s  end'' — as  distinguished  from  a 
head,  end,  or  terminus  belonging,  or  pertaining  to  any 
tiling  else.  "Ceann  sraidi,"  in  like  manner,  means  the 
head,  terminus,  or  end  of*  a  street.  But  the  nominative 
case  plural  of  these  nouns  is  formed  exactly  the  same  as 
their  genitive  case  singular ;  thus,  "  tiri "  means  lands, 
and  "sraidi"  means  streets. 

When  the  final  consonant  of  the  noun  to  be  inflected  is 
broad,  instead  of  slender,  the  office  of  the  genitive  suffix, 
i,  is  to  make  that  consonant  slender  in  the  genitive  case ; 
consequently  the  i,  in  this  instance,  is  not  suffixed,  but 
infixed.  Thus,  "cuas,"  a  cave,  forms  its  genitive  "cuais" 
(not  ''cuasi.")  ;  "ceol,"  music,  forms  its  genitive  "ceoil" 
(not  "ceoli.")  ;  and  "  aol,"  li7ne,  forms  its  genitive  "aoil" 
(not  "aoli.")    It  is  in  the  inflection  of  nouns  of  this 


*  There  are,  in  English,  two  ways  of  expressing  what  in  Gaelic  is  Icnown 
as  the  genitive  relation.  According  to  the  native  Saxon  method,  as  has  al- 
ready been  shown,  the  possessing  noun  is  indicated  hy  the  suflSxed  conson- 
ant's:  as  "the  sun's  disk";  "the  moon's  sphere";  "the  mountain's  top." 
According  to  the  other  method,  which  has  heen  borrowed  from  the  French, 
the  possessing  noun  is  denoted  by  having  prefixed  to  it  the  preposition  "  of  " ; 
as  "  the  disk  of  the  sun  " ;  "  the  sphere  of  the  moon  " ;  "  the  top  of  the  moun- 
tain." This  preposition  "  of,"  which,  grammaticallj'  considei-ed,  governs  the 
following  noun  in  the  objective  case,  expi'esses  the  same  idea  of  genitiveness 
or  possession  that  in  Gaelic  and  most  other  languages  is  indicated  bj-  a 
special  suffix.  Now,  the  question  naturally  suggests  itself,  how  ic  is  that  the 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


47 


class,  then,  that  the  "triphthong  of  inflection,"  above 
referred  to,  is  formed.  When  the  final  consonant  of  a 
noun  in  the  nominative  case  is  preceded  by  a  diphthong, 
we  see  how  that  diphthong  becomes  a  triphthong  by  the 
addition  of  the  infixed  i  of  the  genitive  case. 

Most  of  the  Gaelic  diphthongs,  however,  when  they 
take  this  attenuating  i  after  them,  cannot  stand  in  their 
triphthongal  forms.  Under  the  influence  of  the  infixed  i, 
they  become  excessively  attenuated,  sometimes  dwindling 
down  to  single  vowels,  and  sometimes  disappearing  alto- 
gether. For  example,  the  diphthong  ia  is  reduced  to  e ; 
thus  "grian,"  the  sun,  becomes  ''grein"  (not  "griain"): 
and  ''ciall,"  sense,  becomes  "ceill,"  (not  "ciailL")  There 
are  only  five  diphthongs  which  resist  this  excessive  atten- 
uation ;  namely,  ua,  ao,  eo,  iu,  ea.  The  other  diphthongs 
suffer  modification,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  following : — 

1.  The  diphthong  ia  is  reduced  to  e;  thus: 
"grian"  becomes  "grein,"  not  "griain." 

2.  The  diphthongs  ea  (eu)  and  lo  drop  the  con- 
sonant vowel ;  thus : 


preposition  and  the  suflSx  can  have  the  same  signification?  This  can  be  an- 
swered only  by  assuming  that  the  suffix,  which  is  now  indeed  anomalous, 
was  originally  a  preposition;  and  this  we  shall  fijid  scientifically  to  be  the 
case.  The  only  difference,  in  fact,  between  the  preposition  and  the  suffix  is, 
that  the  latter  is  retained  at  the  end  of  the  noun,  instead  of  being  placed  at 
the  beginning,  and  points  to  a  time  in  the  development  of  language  when  all 
those  particles  which  we  now  call  prepositions  were  placed  at  the  end  of  the 
nouns  they  go%'erned.  According  to  this  view  of  the  matter,  then,  we  see 
how  such  genitive  expressions  as  "  ceann  tiri,"  land's  end,  and  "  ceann 
sraidi,"  street's  end,  may  be  resolved  into  the  more  intelligible  "  ceann  i 
dtir,"  i.  e.,  end  in  a  land,  and  "  ceann  i  sraid,"  i.  e.,  end  in  a  street. 

The  student  should  here  remember  that  the  inflectional  i  when  final  is, 
in  the  modern  language,  changed  to  e :  as  "  tire,"  "  sraide,"  and  is  retained 
in  the  plural  of  dissyllabic  nouns  ending  in  a  liquid,  1  n  r,  in  which  case  the 
i  is  long  — and  the  long  i  and  the  short  e  are  never  commutable.  Examples: 
"miorbhail,"  a  miracle,  plural  "  miorbhaili " ;  "  cailin,"  a  girl,  plural  "  call- 
iui";  "fioghdoir,"  a  weaver,  plural  "fioghdoiri." 


48 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


"sgeiil"  becomes  "sgeil,"  not  "sgeuil"  or  "sgeail.'* 
"siol"  "       "si'l,"       "  "sioil"      "  "siil." 

3.  The  three  short  diphthongs  ea,  eo,  and  iu  drop 
both  vowels ;  thus  : 

"fear"  becomes  "fir,"  not  "feair." 
"deoch"    "         "digh"  "  "deoich." 
"flinch"    "         "flich""  "fliuich." 

In  the  old  language,  the  diphthong  ao  (also  written  ae 
and  oe)  dropped  one  of  its  vowels;  thus  "maor,"  "maer," 
or  "moer"  became  "mair"  or  "moir,"  instead  of  the 
modern  "maoir,"  "maeir,"  or  "moeir."  And  this,  it 
should  be  noted,  is  in  strict  accordance  with  the  modern 
pronunciation,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  the  ao  loses  its 
diphthongal  sound  in  its  triphthongal  or  attenuated  form. 

DIPHTHONGS  OF  INFLECTION. 

In  the  same  manner  as  triphthongs  are  formed  in  the 
process  of  inflection  of  some  nouns  so  also  are  diphthongs 
formed.  If  the  final  consonant  of  a  noun  in  the  nomin- 
ative case  is  immediately  preceded  bj  a  single  broad 
vowel,  a  o  or  u,  and  the  attenuating  i  is  inserted  in  form- 
ing the  genitive  case,  it  gives  rise  to  the  diphthong  ai,  oi, 
or  ui.  For  example,  "  bad,"  a  boat^  becomes  in  the  gen- 
itive case  "baid:"  "port,"  a  harbor,  becomes  "poirt:" 
and  "dun,"  a  fort,  becomes  "duin,"  When  the  broad 
vowel  of  the  nominative  is  long  (accented),  as  in  the 
above  words,  it  resists  the  modifying  influence  of  the 
attenuating  i;  but  when  the  vowel  is  short  it  suffers  a 
decided  modification.  The  vowels  a  and  o  are  both 
changed  to  u  (the  sound  of  u  being  naturally  more  atten- 
uated than  that  of  a  or  o)  while  the  vowel  u  itself  re- 
mains   unchanged.     Thus    "brat,"  a  mantle,  becomes 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


49 


"bruit,"'  (not  "brait")  and  "port,"  a  tune^  becomes 
"puirt"  (not  "poirt.") 

This  change  of  the  broad  vowel  of  the  nominative  is, 
in  reality,  only  a  method  of  showing  that  the  infixed  i 
is  prominent  in  the  newly-formed  diphthong.  Hence  it  is 
that  some  Gaelic  writers  do  not  change  the  broad  vowel 
(a  or  o)  of  the  nominative  at  all:  and  with  very  good 
reason,  for  it  is  generally  understood  that  the  i  is  always, 
with  few  exceptions,  the  prominent  vowel  in  a  short  diph- 
thong of  inflection. 

In  the  Munster  dialect,  the  infixed  i  is  long  in  a  mono- 
syllabic word  ending  in  11  or  nn;  as  "crann,"  a  tree^  gen. 
"crainn"  (or  "criiinn"),  pron.  kreen.  "poll,"  a  liole^ 
gen.  "poill"  (or  "puill"),  pron.  pueel.    (See  page  10.) 

The  student  will  not  fail  to  recognize  in  the  internal 
change  of  words  in  Gaelic  something  similar  to  the  in- 
flection which  in  English  changes  mouse  into  mice^  man 
into  men^  strike  into  stroke^  break  into  broke,  etc.  In 
Gaelic  the  internal  vowel  change  is,  however,  governed 
by  rule,  while  in  English  it  is  not  governed  by  rule. 


The  following  vocabular}^,  which  is  composed  of  both 
monosyllables  and  dissyllables,  is  intended  to  give  further 
illustration  of  the  sounds  of  the  five  triphthongs.  The 
two  triphthongs  iui  and  iai  are  found  in  only  a  few  words. 


Vocabulary. 


uair,  an  hour;  time. 

gruaim,  surliness,  gloom. 

duals,  a  reward. 

saoi,  a  sage. 

baois,  folly. 

draoi,  a  druid,  ivizard. 


suairc,  pleasant,  joyful. 
uain,  leisure;  time. 
stuaim,  steadiness,  sobriety. 
caoin,  gentle,  mild. 
aois,  an  age. 
daoi,  a  dullard. 


50 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


beoir,  heer. 
treoir,  guidance. 
deoin,  will^  consent, 
stiuir,  a  steer, 
ciuin,  silent^  still. 
tuairim,  impression^  opinion. 
tuairisg,  tidings. 
cluain,  a  lawn^  glade. 
daoirse,  bondage^  slavery. 
saoirse,  freedom^  liberty. 
maoilinn,  a  knoll.  ■ 
feoirlinn,  a  farthing. 
dreoilm,  a  wren. 
gleoite,  neat^  nice. 


neoin,  evening;  noon. 
feoil,  meat^  flesh. 
geoin,  tumult,  noise. 
biail,  an  axe. 
spiaire,  a  spy. 
cluairean,  mumbling. 
uaine,  green. 
cuaiseud  a  closet. 
calaois,  cheat,  guile. 
caoine,  a  lament. 
faoileann,  a  sea  gul. 
breoite,  sick. 

coinnleoir,  a  candle-stick, 
gleoism,  a  prattler. 


EXERCISE  IV. 

1.  Ta  an  uain  fuar.  2.  Ta  tu  ceart:  ta  an  uain  fuar 
agus  flinch.  3.  Ta  an  brat  uaine  agus  ta  an  crann  ard. 
4.  Ta  daoirse  olc  agus  ta  saoirse  suairc.  5.  Feoil  ur 
agus  an  eat  ban.  6.  Ta  an  cat  ban  breoite.  7.  Fear 
ciuin,  bad  agus  an  stiuir.  8.  Cluairean  sior,  fear  crion 
agus  feoirlinn.  9.  Coinnleoir  ard.  10.  Ta  calaois  olc. 
11.  Cnoc  ard  agus  ceo,  maoilinn  agus  cluain.  12.  Ta 
an  tuairisg  olc.  13.  Ta  an  draoi  glic.  14.  Ta  an  sgeul 
fior.  15.  Beoir  agus  gruaim  agus  cluairean  sior.  16.  An 
dreoilm  binn.  17.  Ta  an  ceol  suairc.  18.  Ta  tu  ceart: 
ta  se  binn,  suairc.  19.  Ait  ard.  20.  Ta  an  ait  ard 
glan  agus  ta  an  dun  mor  arsa.  21.  Cnoc  agus  maoilinn 
lom.    22.  Cnoc  ard.    23.  Ta  an  cnoc  ceannard. 

24.  Baois  a's  mortus,  bord  a's  cat, 
Draoi  a's  ros  deas,  bron  a's  brat. 

25.  Gruaim  a's  daoirse,  saoirse  's  siur, 
Cluain  deas,  mm,  agus  maoilinn  ur. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


51 


26.  Ta  'n  mala  Ian, 
Ta  'n  capall  ban, 

Ta  'n  giusta  borb, 
A's  ta  'n  colm  fann. 

27.  Ta  'n  dan  deas,  gleoite. 

An  sgeol  's  an  bard; 
Ta  'n  cat  ban  breoite, 
'S  ta  'n  ros  ceannard. 

Translatio7i, 

1.  The  weather  (time)  is  cold.  2.  You  are  right:  the 
weather  is  cold  and  wet.  3.  The  cloak  is  green  and  the 
tree  is  tall.  4.  Slavery  is  bad  and  freedom  is  pleasant. 
5.  Fresh  meat  and  the  white  cat.  6.  The  white  cat  is 
sick.    7.  A  reticent  (silent)  man,  a  boat  and  the  steer. 

8.  Perpetual  mumbling,  a  decrepit  man  and  a  farthing. 

9.  A  tall  candlestick.  10.  Guile  is  bad.  11.  A  high  hill 
and  mist,  a  knoll  and  a  lawn.  12.  The  account  (tidings) 
is  bad.  13.  The  druid  is  cunning.  14.  The  story  is 
true.  15.  Beer  and  surliness  and  perpetual  mumbling. 
16.  The  melodious  wren.  17.  The  music  is  pleasant. 
18.  You  are  right:  it  is  melodious  and  pleasant.  19. 
A  high  place.  20.  The  high  place  is  clean  and  the  large 
fort  is  ancient.  21.  A  bare  hill  and  knoll.  22.  A  high 
hill.  23.  The  hill  is  prominent  (lit  high-headed.)  (Nos. 
24,  25,  26  and  27  are  in  metre.) 

Translate  the  Following  twelve  Sentences  into  Gaelic. 

1.  The  cat  is  young.  2.  The  tree  is  green.  3.  Fresh 
bread  is  sweet.  4.  The  cat  and  the  dove  are  white  and 
the  horse  is  black.  5.  It  is  bad.  6.  He  is  cunning.  7. 
She  is  pretty.  8.  We  are  right.  9.  They  are  white.  10. 
The  tall  grass  is  green.  11.  The  young  horse  is  sick  and 
he  i>;  weak  and  wear}^    12.  A  white  thing  is  clean. 


ASPIRATION    AND  ECLIPSIS. 


LESSON  V. 

I.  ASPIKATION,  OR,  MUTABLE  CONSONANTS. 

The  nine  mutable  consonants  —  b,  c,  d,  f,  g,  m,  p,  s,  t, 
—  are  so  called  because  they  lose  their  radical  sounds  or 
timbres  and  assume  other  sounds  apparently  foreign  to 
themselves.  In  this  altered  condition  they  are  called 
aspirates^  and  are  distinguished  by  having  an  h  placed 
immediately  after  them ;  thus  bh,  ch,  dh,  fh,  gh,  mh,  ph, 
sh,  th  *  ( See  remarks  on  the  letter  7i,  page  2.)  The 
secondary,  or  aspirate,  sounds  which  these  consonants  as- 
sume may  be  gathered  from  the  following :  — 


*The  consonants  that  are  aspirated  at  present  were  un-aspirated,  or  radi- 
cal, in  ancient  times ;  and  this  holds  true  not  only  of  Gaelic,  but  of  every  lan- 
guage in  which  aspirated  consonants  occur.  The  modern  English  word 
"  church,"  in  Anglo-Saxon  or  Old  English,  was  spelt  and  pronounced  "  cure," 
with  the  c  radical,  like  k;  and  this  old  pronunciation  yet  lives  in  the  Scottish 
"kirk."  The  aspirate  sound  of  a  consonant  is,  in  reality,  a  corruption  of  its 
radical  sound ;  nevertheless,  in  some  instances,  the  derivative  aspirate  sound 
has  been  accorded  the  rank  and  title  of  an  independent  alphabetic  consonant- 
The  aspirate  sound  of  a  consonant  in  English  and  most  modern  languages,  is 
denoted  by  having  an  h  postfixed  to  the  radical  consonant  thus  changed  or 
corrupted.  In  English,  there  are,  at  present,  five  consonants  the  aspirate 
sounds  of  which  are  indicated  in  this  way.  These  are  c,  g,  p,  s,  t.  The  radi- 
cal, or  alphabetic,  sounds  of  these  consonants  are  exemplified  in  the  words 
"can,"  "rug,"  "pant,"  "sip,"  "tan,";  and  their  aspirate,  or  secondary, 
sounds  are  exemplified  in  the  words  "  chant,"  "  rough,"  "  phantom,"  "  ship," 
"than,"  In  some  languages,  as  in  Greek,  the  aspirate  sounds  of  old  radi- 
cals are  denoted  by  having  new  letters  invented  to  represent  them,  and  conse- 
quently they  are  looked  upon  as  independent  consonants  in  writing.  Thus  in 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


53 


Bh  and  Mh. 

Bh  and  Mh  both  take  the  sound  of  v,  with  the  follow- 
ins:  modifications : 

I.  Bh,  or  mh,  broad,  sounds  like  v  broad  or  thick 
(which  sound  approaches  that  of  w  at  the  beginning 
of  a  word  or  syllable);  as  "dubh,"  black  Qpron.  dhuv^; 
''lamh,"  a  hand  (jpron.  lauv) "garbh,"  rough  (^pron. 

garuv)\  "talamh,"  land  {jpron,  thalav)-,  "a  bhord," 

his  table  (^pron.  a  voardh  or  a  woardh);  "amhac,"  his 

son   (^pron,   a  vak  or  a  wak);  "gabhail,"  conquest 

(^pron.  ga-vauil  or  ga-wauil};  "amhain,"  onl^  (^pron, 
a-vauin  or  a-wauin.^ 


Greek,  for  instance,  the  guttural  ch  has  a  special  letter  to  represent  it,  made 
in  the  shape  of  an  x.  So  also  have  the  ph  and  th  each  a  special  letter,  bearing 
no  resemblance  in  shape  or  form  to  the  radical  letter  from  ^vhich  it  has  been 
phonetically  derived.  In  Hebrew,  also,  the  aspirates  have  new  letters  to  ex- 
press their  sounds;  but  in  all  cases  the  new  aspirate  letters,  in  Hebrew,  bear 
a  striking  resemblance,  in  form,  to  their  primitive  radicals,  of  which  they 
are  modifications  graphically  as  well  as  phonetically.  The  old  English,  or 
Anglo-Saxons,  adopted  the  same  expedient  in  regard  to  the  Gaelic  aspirates 
bh,  mh,  dh  gh,  sh,  th.  The  aspirate  sound  of  bh  and  mh  they  represented  by 
T,  (sometimes  by  w,  which  is  but  a  broadening  of  the  v  sound),  and  the  aspi- 
rate sound  of  dh  and  gh  they  repx-esented  by  y.  The  aspirates  sli  and  th  they 
represented  by  h.  Thus  the  English  word  "  worry  "  is  an  obvious  corruption 
of  an  older  form  in  which  the  initial  w  is  either  a  b  or  an  m,  and  the  final  y 
either  a  d  or  a  g.  Now,  this  ancient  form  we  find  well  preserv^ed  in  the  Gaelic 
"buaireadh,"  pronounced  very  nearly  "borry";  but  when  the  initial,  under 
certain  circumstances,  is  aspirated,  it  is  pronounced  "  vorry,"  or,  according 
to  the  Connacht  method,  "  worry."  The  English  pronoun  "  he,"  in  like  man- 
ner, presupposes  an  older  form  in  which  the  initial  h  is  either  an  s  or  a  t  (it 
might  also  be  a  ch,  as  we  shall  see  later  on) ;  and  this  form  we  find  preserved 
in  the  Gaelic  "  se,"  the  masculine  pronoun  of  the  third  person. 

The  aspirate  sounds  of  radical  consonants  are  undoubtedly  best  denoted 
by  having  attached  to  the  radicals  themselves  a  conventional  mark  (such  as 
the  h  or  the  dot),  or  else  by  having  their  form  so  slightly  altered  as  not  to 
disguise  the  original  identity;  such,  for  instance,  as  the  W  and  the  M  in  Ger- 
man, and  most  of  the  aspirates  and  the  radicals  in  Hebrew.  The  h  as  a  mark 
of  aspiration  in  Gaelic  print,  has  been  objected  to  as  occurring  too  frequently, 
and  as  occupying  too  much  space.  For  this  very  reason,  the  scribes  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  omitted  the  h  altogether  and  instead 
placed  a  point  or  "dot"  over  the  aspii'ated  consonant.  The  dot  in  all  such 
cases,  however,  only  indicated  the  omission  of  the  h;  for  it  was  used  by  the 
old  scribes  in  the  same  capacity  as  that  in  which  the  apostrophe  is  used  at 
present  (see  foot-note,  page  37.)   The  general  use  of  the  dot,  instead  of  the  h. 


54 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


II.  Bh,  or  mh,  preceded  by  a  (short)  and  followed  by 
another  short  vowel,  or  a  consonant,  has,  in  the  first 
syllable  of  a  word,  the  vowel  sound  of  u  in  rule  ;  which, 
in  union  with  the  preceding  a,  produces  a  diphthongal 
sound  like  au  in  German  or  ow  in  the  English  word 
'power  \  as  "gabhar,"  a  goat  (^pron.  gower);  "ramhar," 


in  modern  Gaelic  print,  while  it  saves  time  and  space,  does  not  lessen  one 
iota  the  objections  that  are  urged  against  the  whole  system  of  aspiration. 
Too  many  dots  are  as  objectionable,  and  are  as  embarrassing  to  the  eye,  as 
too  many  h's.  The  mutables  b,  m,  d,  g,  occur  so  frequently  in  their  aspir- 
ated condition,  that  the  radical  sounds  of  these  letters  outside  of  the  initials 
of  words — which  are  never  aspirated  —  is  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule- 
It  were  far  more  convenient,  therefore,  to  mark  or  dot  the  b,  m,  d,  g,  when 
radical  than  to  have  them,  as  they  now  are,  marked  in  every  case  in  which 
they  are  aspirated.  Any  one  of  these  four  mutables,  in  Old  Gaelic,  whenever 
it  did  not  form  the  initial  consonant  of  a  word,  was  understood  to  bear  its 
aspirated  sound;  and  whenever  it  got  the  exceptional  radical  sound,  the 
letter  was  doubled.  The  double  mutable  consonant,  therefore,  represented 
the  radical  sound,  the  single  mutable  consonant  the  aspirate  sound.  This 
ingenious  method  of  treating  aspiration,  which  dispenses  with  two-thirds  of 
the  number  of  h's,  or  dots,  used  in  modern  Gaelic  books,  is  observable  in  the 
most  ancient  manuscripts  we  possess.  In  order,  therefore,  that  the  student 
may  be  enabled  to  read  those  manuscripts  and  published  works  of  ancient 
Gaelic,  the  system  of  aspiration  which  is  found  in  them  is  given  concisely  as 
follows : 

The  aspirate  sound  of  bh  is  represented  by  a  single  b,  and  the  radical 
sound  of  the  same  letter  is  represented  by  pp  (or  bb) ;  while  the  aspirate 
sound  of  p  itself  is  represented  by  ph,  and  the  radical  sound  by  a  single  p. 
The  aspirate  sound  of  dh  is  represented  by  a  single  d,  and  the  radical  sound 
by  tt;  while  the  aspirate  sound  of  t  itself  is  represented  by  th,  and  the  radical 
sound  by  a  single  t.  The  aspirate  sound  of  gh  is  represented  by  a  single  g, 
and  the  radical  sound  by  cc;  while  the  aspirate  sound  of  c  itself  is  repre- 
sented by  ch,  and  the  radical  sound  by  a  single  c. 

The  letter  s  is  never  aspirated  in  the  middle  or  at  the  end  of  a  word,  hence 
a  single  s,  in  whatever  position,  has  always  the  radical  sound. 

The  letters  f  and  p  are  practically  initial  letters;  hence  whenever  either  of 
these  consonants  occurs  in  the  middle  of  a  word,  as  is  frequently  the  case  in 
the  Ogham  inscriptions,  it  represents  the  aspirate  bh.  The  ff,  in  like  man- 
ner,  represents  the  aspirate  mh.  In  most  manuscript  works  the  aspirate  mh 
is,  of  course,  represented  by  a  single  m,  and  the  radical  sound  by  mm.  When, 
however,  the  single  m  is  immediately  preceded  by  1,  n,  r,  s,  or  ch,  it  is  radi- 
cal in  sound.  The  mutables  b  and  d  are  also  radical  in  this  position. 

The  letter  t  is  practically  an  initial  letter  also;  hence  in  some  old  manu- 
scripts it  is  employed,  instead  of  tt,  in  the  middle  and  at  the  end  of  words,  to 
represent  the  softer  sound  of  d  radical.  When,  however,  the  t  is  immedi- 
ately preceded  by  1,  n,  r,  s,  or  ch,  it  has  its  radical  or  initial  sound. 

The  initial  euphonic  aspiration,  which  is  so  prevalent  in  modern  Gaelic 
text,  either  did  not  obtain  so  frequently  in  the  older  text,  or  else  it  was,  on 
account  of  its  transient  nature,  entirely  ignored. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


55 


plump  (^pron.  rower)  ;  "leabhar,"  a  book  (^pron.  Vower); 
" meamhair,"  memory  (^pron.  m^ow-ir)  ;  "feabhra,"  Feb- 
Tuary  (^pron.  fowra) ;  "samhra,"  Summer  (^pron.  sowra.) 
 Bh,  or  mh,  in  the  same  position,  in  the  second  syl- 
lable of  a  word,  or  when  immediately  preceded  by  1,  n,  r,t 
has  the  pure  vowel  sound  of  u  in  rule^  or  that  of  w  in 
renewal;  as  " duilleabhar,"  foliage  (^pron.  dku-lure); 
"fearamhail,"  manly  Qpron.  fa-rule)  \  "gealbhan,"  a 
sparrow  (^pron.  g'a-loon )  ;  "  ionmhain,"  dear  (^pron.  in- 
noo'n  )  ;  "  Cearbhall,"  Carroll  (^pron,  h^a-rule.) 


t  A  consonant  immediately  preceding  or  following  the  aspirate  (bh  or 
mh)  is  the  result  of  syncopation.  The  word  "gealbhan"  is  a  syncopated 
form  of  "  gealabhan,"  and  "  samhra "  a  syncopated  form  of  "  samhara." 
According  to  this  view  of  the  matter,  then,  we  see  that  bh  or  mh  is  vocalized 
only  when  preceded  and  followed  by  a  (short).  The  substance  of  Rule  II., 
given  above,  might  therefore  be  more  concisely  stated  thus:  — abha  or  amha 
in  the  first  syllable  of  a  word  sounds  like  ow  (or  ou  in  our) ;  in  the  second 
syllable  it  sounds  like  ew  (or  ou  in  your). 

The  diphthongal  sound  of  ow  (or  ou)  is  not  as  natural  to  the  Gaelic  lan- 
guage as  it  is  to  the  German.  Hence  in  Gaelic  the  sound  is  permitted  to  ex- 
ist only  in  the  first  syllable  of  a  word,  while  in  the  second  syllable  it  is  re- 
duced to  the  vowel  sound  of  u.  This  elimination  of  the  diphthongal  sound 
has  a  few  analogies  even  in  English,  Compare  the  words  renounce  and  i-e- 
nunciation,  denounce  and  denunciation,  etc.,  and  you  will  find  that  among 
the  differences  between  them  not  the  least  important  is  the  elimination  of 
the  diphthongal  sound,  ou.  While  this  sound  never  occurs  outside  of  the  first 
syllable  in  a  Gaelic  word,  there  are,  on  the  contrary,  two  words  in  common 
use  in  which  the  sound  is  eliminated  (i.  e.  reduced  to  u)  even  in  the  first  syl- 
lable. These  are  "tabhairt,"  to  give  (pron.  thoo-irt)  and  "abhall,"  an  apple 
(pron.  ool).  But,  however,  when  these  words  take  a  suffix  and  become  dis- 
syllables, tlie  diphthongal  sound  is  heard;  as  "tabharthas,"  a  gift  (pron.  thow- 
arhas) ;  " abhall -ghort,"  an  orchard  (pron.  owl-'orth.) 

It  may  be  well  to  inform  the  learner  that  the  vowel  sound  of  bh  or  mh 
is  a  mcdei'n  development.  In  the  old  language  these  aspirates  were  inva- 
riably articulated  (like  v)  in  positions  where,  in  the  spoken  language  of  the 
present  daj',  they  get  the  simple  sound  of  u  or  the  compound  sound  of  ou. 
The  old  pronunciation  prevailed  longer  in  Munster  than  in  any  of  the  other 
provinces,  and  even  as  late  as  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century  Gaelic 
speakers  of  Coi-k  and  Kerry  were  noted  for  their  tendency  to  articulate  the 
bh  and  mh  in  the  two  positions  mentioned  in  Rule  11.  Thus  "  gabhar,"  a 
goat,  was  pronounced  ga-var  (in  two  syllables),  and  " fearamhail,"  manly, 
was  pronounced  far-ra-vhil  (in  three  syllables).  Even  at  the  present  day  this 
old  pronunciation  is  sometimes  heard,  but  it  is  confined  mainly  to  poetry. 
There  is,  however,  one  word  in  common  use  —  viz.,  "amharc,"  a  glance  — 
which  gives  a  good  example  of  the  articulated  aspirate,  the  word  being 
universally  pronounced,  as  far  as  I  know,  in  two  syllables  —  a-vark  (not 
owark). 


56 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


III.  Bh,  or  mh,  preceded  by  o  or  u  and  followed  by 
another  short  vowel,,  or  a  consonant,  is  silent  (like  in 
olowing)^  in  which  case  the  preceding  o  or  u  is  sounded 
long;  as  " comhai-sa,"  a  neighbor  (^pron.  koarsa)  ;  "subh- 
ach,"  cheerful  (^pron,  sooch^  ;  "umhal,"  humble  (^pron, 
ool^;  ''subhlach,"  juice  (^pron,  soo-lach^ ;  "cumlira," 
fragrant  (^pron.  koo-ra.^* 

IV.  Bh,  or  mh,  preceded  or  followed  by  a  long  vowel 
or  syllable,  is  always  articulated  (like  v  in  Munster,  like 
IV  f  in  Connacht),  and  forms  the  first  letter  of  the  follow- 
ing syllable;  as  "crabhadh,"  piety ^  (^pron.  krau-va  or 
krau-wa)  ;  "diamhar,"  deep^  mystic  (^pron.  dea-var  or  dea- 
war~)  I   "faobhar,"  edge   (^pron.  fhay-var  ot  fhay-war') 

 "gabhail,"   conquest  (^pron.  ga-vau'l  ov  ga-wau^l^  \ 

"subhailce,"  virtue  (^pron,  su-vau'l-ke  or  su-wau'l-ke^ ; 
"amhain,"  only  (^pron.  a-vaun  or  a-wau'n^  ;  "diomhaoin," 
idle  Qpron.  dee-vheen  or  dee-ween,') 


*In  the  Munster  dialect  the  bh  and  mh  are  quiescent  not  only  after  o  and 
u,  but  also  after  the  vowel  i  and  long  a  and  the  long  diphthongs  ao,  ia,  ua,  in  a 
few  words  of  common  use;  as  "deimhin,"  certain  (pron.  dine);  "Eibhlin," 
Ellen  (pron.  Ileen) ;  "  faobhar,"  edge  (pron.  faor) ;  "  cliamhain,"  a  son-in-law 
(pron.  klean) ;  "  uamhar,"  pride  (pron.  oo-ar.)  When,  however,  the  following 
vowel  or  diphthong  is  long  the  aspirate  is  sounded  as  it  always  ought  to  be. 
[See  Rule  IV.] 

t  It  may  be  well  here  to  state  that  in  speaking  English  some  Irishmen 
give  the  English  w  the  more  radical  sound  of  v.  Thus  "  will "  is  pronounced 
"  vill,"  and  "  wine  "  is  pronounced  "  vine  " ;  but  in  compensation  for  this  the 
V  is  in  other  words  sounded  like  w;  thus  "  vine  "  is  pronounced  "  wine,"  and 
"  voice  "  is  pronounced  "  wice."  The  wh  in  some  words  gets  the  sound  of  f  or 
ph;  as  when,"  pronoimced  fen;  "  whei*e,"  pronounced  fere  ";  but  in  com- 
pensation for  this  the  f  is,  in  other  words,  sounded  like  wh;  as  "fine,"  pro- 
nounced "  whine,"  "fight,"  pronounced  "  whight,"  etc.  This  interchange  of 
elemental  sounds  between  two  words  is  one  of  the  most  important  pheno- 
mena in  language.  It  is  well  illustrated  in  the  Cockney  dialect,  in  which  the 
h  is  omitted  from  words  to  which  it  naturally  belongs  and  inserted  in  other 
words  to  which  it  does  not  belong;  thus  "horse"  becomes  " 'orse,"  and 
"oats  "  becomes  "  boats."  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  when  a  sound  dis- 
appears from  one  word  it  reappears  in  another,  and  thus  we  have  a  veritable 
law  of  compensation;  so  that  no  elemental  sound  is  absolutely  lost.  This 
conservation  of  sound  in  language  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  what,  in 
the  physical  world,  is  known  as  the  conservation  of  matter. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


57 


V.  Bh  or  mh,  slender^  sounds  like  v  slender  or  thin ; 
as  "luibh,"  an  herb  (^pron.  Ihuv);  "nimh,"  poison 
(^pron.  7iiv);  ''aoibhinn,"  delightful  (^pron.  ee-vin}; 
*'sgnbhinn,"  a  loriting  (^pron.  shgree-vin);  "doimhin," 
deep  (^pron.  dho-vin^;     deimhin,"  eertain  (^pron.  devin.^ 

Ch. 

Ch  takes  a  hissing  guttural  sound,  like  the  German  ch, 
with  the  following  modifications : 

I.  Ch,  hroad^  has  a  rough  or  explosive  guttural  sound 
like  ch  in  loch;  as  "loch,"  a  lake;  "luch,"  a  mouse; 
*'macha,"  a  plain;  ''lacha,"  a  duck;  "mullach,"  a 
summit. 

II.  Ch,  slender^  has,  in  the  beginning  of  a  word,  a 
light  guttural,  or  rather  palatal  sound,  like  h  in  hue ;  as 
"a  chiall,"  his  sense;  "a  cheann,"  his  head.  In  the 
middle  and  end  of  a  word  it  sounds  more  like  the  aspirate 
AinMunster;  as  "fiche,"  twenty  (^i^ron.  fihe)  ;  "seiche,'' 
a  hide  (pj-on.  shehe)^;  but  in  Connacht  the  analogical 
palatal  sound  is  heard  as  in  German. 

Dh  a7id  Gh. 

Dh  and  Gh  both  take  the  sound  of  y,  with  the  follow- 
ing modifications : 

tTbe  h  i3  a  natural  secondarj-,  or  aspirate,  sound  of  tbe  ch.  Most  of  the 
b's  that  appear  in  modern  languages  can  be  traced  to  the  radical  c  (or  k)  of 
more  ancient  (i.  e.,  better  preserved)  languages.  Thus,  for  instance,  the 
Latin  -word  "caput"  is  more  primitive  and  far  better  preserved  than  the 
German  "  Haupt,"  which  is  a  corruption  of  it;  and  the  Gaelic  word  "cura" 
is  more  primitive  than  the  English  "  hero."  In  both  these  instances  we  find 
the  radical  c  dwindling  down  into  the  aspirate  h.  Nearly  all  the  h's  in 
Hebrew  are  traceable  to  the  c  (or  k);  and  the  old  Assyrian  language,  of 
which  the  Hebrew  is  only  a  corrupt  dialect,  still  holds  the  i-adical  guttural 
where,  in  Hebrew,  we  find  the  aspirate  h.  We  have,  then,  three  radical 
consonants,  s,  t,  and  c,  any  one  of  which  may  be  the  origin  of  the  modern  h. 


58 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


I.  Dh  or  gh,  broad,  when  a  consonant  —  which  it  al- 
ways is  at  the  beginning  of  a  word  —  sounds  like  ^  broad 
or  thick;  as  "mo  dhan,"  mi/  poem  (^pron.  mu  t/haun^  ; 
"  mo  ghort,"  mi/  field  (^pron.  mu  yhorth,') 

II.  Dh  or  gh  preceded  by  a  (short)  and  followed  by 
a  vowel  or  consonant,  has,  in  the  FIKST  syllable  of  a  word, 
the  vowel  sound  of  i  in  machine ;  which,  in  union  with 
the  preceding  a,  produces  a  diphthongal  sound,  like  ai  in 
aisle;  as  ''adharc,"  a  horn  (^pr on.  eye-ark)  \  "radharc," 
sight  (^pron.  rye-ark)  ;  "Tadhg,"  Timothy  (^pron,  thyg)  \ 
"Sadhbh,"  Sahia  (^pron.  seyev.) 

 Dh  or  gh  in  the  same  position  in  the  second  syllable 

of  a  word,  or  when  immediately  preceded  by  d,  1,  n,  r,  has 
the  pure  vowel  sound  of  i  in  machine;  as  "ealadha,*' 
science  (^pron.  al-lee-a) ;  "feadghal,"  whistling  (^pron. 
fa-dhee-al)  ;  "loilgheach,"  a  milch  cow  (^pron.  lo-lee-ach)  : 
''inghean,"  a  daughter  (^pron.  ;  .''garrdha,'' a 

garden  (^pron,  gar-ree-a)^ 

 When  the  preceding  a  is  long  (accented)  the  dh  or 

gh  is  treated  as  a  silent  consonant;  as  ^'sidheiil,^^  pleasure 
(^2^'^on,  saiv-il);  ''bragha,"  a  breast  (^pron.  braiv.) 


*Tbe  substance  of  Rule  II.,  as  given  above,  might  be  more  concisely 
stated  tbus:  Dh  or  gh  in  the  first  sjilable  of  a -word,  has  the  vowel  sound  of 
y  in  "  eye  " ;  in  the  second  syllable  it  has  the  vowel  sound  of  y  in  "  Assjrria," 
Another  way  still  in  which  the  rule  might  be  stated  would  be:  adh(a)  or 
agh(a)  in  the  first  syllable  of  words,  sounds  like  ai  in  "aisle";  in  the  second 
syllable  it  sounds  like  single  i.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  diphthongal 
sound  of  ai,  like  the  diphthongal  sound  of  ou  (for  Avhich  see  footnote,  page  55) 
cannot  stand  in  the  second  syllable  of  a  Gaelic  word. 

According  to  the  modem  orthographj-,  the  aspirate  dh  or  gh,  when  it 
occurs  outside  the  first  syllable  of  a  word,  is  not  a  vowel;  in  this  position  it  is 
generally  treated  as  a  silent  consonant;  and,  to  account  for  the  vowel  sound, 
the  vowel  i  is  inserted  before  it;  thus  "ealadha"  is  now  generally  written 
"  ealaidhe."  The  old  plural  ending  "  adha  "  is  now  always  written  "  idhe." 
Hence  such  old  plural  forms  as  "  maladha,"  bags,  and  "  fileadha,"  poets,  r.re 
now  written  "  malaidhe,"  "filidbe,"  etc. 

In  the  old  language,  the  aspirates  dh  and  gh  did  not  have  precisely  the 
same  sound,  except  at  the  beginning  of  words.  While  the  gh  was  sounded  as 
y  (vowel  or  consonant)  as  indicated  in  the  above  rules,  the  dh  was,  in  the 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


.59 


III.  Dh  or  gh,  preceded  by  o  or  u  and  followed  by  a 
vowel  or  consonant,  is  silent :  in  which  case  the  preceding 
o  or  u  is  sounded  long;  as  "bodhar,"  deaf  (^pron.  hoar)  ; 
"  rogha,"  a  choice  (^pron,  roa);  "foghlaim,"  learning 
(^pron,  foal-lim-\);  "pudliair,"  blemish  (^pron.  poo-ir^l 
"ughdar,"  an  author  (^pron,  oo-dhar).  [In  this  case,  it 
is  the  contiguity  of  the  vowel  following  the  silent  aspi- 
rate, and  not  the  silent  aspirate  itself,  that  helps  to  leng- 
then the  preceding  o  or  u.] 

 Dh  or  gh  preceded  by  a  long  diphthong  is  also  silent, 

but  the  increase  in  the  quantity  of  the  preceding  diph- 
thong, occasioned  by  the  following  vowel,  is  not  in  this 
case  as  perceptible  as  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  preceding  o 
or  u.  Examples:  "saoghal,"  the  world;  "buadliach," 
victorious;  " criadhaire,"  a  laborer;  " Eoghan,"  Eugene; 
'*leigheann,"  literature;  "fioghar,"  a  figure  ;  "caidheach," 
polluted;  "oighe,"  ^;^V^^?^s;  " tuidhean,'*  fl^  ^wmV ;  "liugh- 
adh,"  screaming. 

IV.  Dh  or  gh,  slender^  Avhen  a  consonant,  is  sounded 
like  y  slender  or  thin;  as  "mo  dheoin,"  my  consent;  "mo 
gheug,"  my  arm^. 

y.  Dh  or  gh  j^receded  by  i  and  followed  by  a  vowel 
or  consonant,  is  silent,  causing  the  preceding  i  to  be 


middle  of  words,  sounded  like  the  aspirate  b,  or  tli.  Hence  in  old  manu- 
scripts the  dli  is  often  ■written  where,  in  modern  texts,  the  th  would  be  used. 

In  Connacht,  the  aspirate  dh  or  gh,  when  immediately  followed  by  1,  m, 
n,  or  r,  in  the  first  syllable  of  words,  is  treated  as  a  silent  consonant,  the  pre- 
ceding a  being  long  in  sound;  as  "  adhlacadh,"  burial,  (pron.  aw-laka); 
"adhmad,"  timber  (pron.  aw-mudh) ;  "adhradh,"  adoration  (pron.  aw-ra.) 
Such  words  as  these,  however,  are  only  syncopated  forms  and  should  follow 
the  general  rule. 

t  In  the  Munster  dialect,  the  vowel  o  in  this  position,  gets  the  diphthongal 
sound  of  ou  (or  ow);  as  "bodhar"  (pron.  bower);  "rogha"  (pron.  row); 
"foghlaim"  (pron.  fowlim.) 


60 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


sounded  long;  as  "slighe,"  away;  "dlighe,"  a  law; 
"croidhe,"  a  heart;  '•feidhm,"  an  effort \  "buidhe," 
yellow.* 

YI.  Dh  or  gh  final  is  absolutely  silent,  and  has  no  in- 
fluence over  the  preceding  vowel;  as  "margadh,"  a  bar- 
gain  (^pron.  mar-ga^;  '•magadh,"  mockery  (^pron.  ma- 
ga');  deireadh,"  ■  aw  eyid  (^pron.  der-re^;  "samhradh," 
Summer  (^pron,  soiv-ra^;  ''gradh,"  love  (^pron.  graw^  ; 
"tmigh,"  a  strand  (^pron.  traw^;  "faidh,"  a  prophet 
Qj^fon,  faw  ^  \  "troigh,"  afoot  (^pron.  thro''  or  thrV  ^  ; 
"iarraidh,"  asking  Qpron.  ear-ri  or  ear-ra^  ;  "Eochaidh," 
Hugo  (^pron.  ochi  or  ocha.)^ 

Fh. 

Fh  is  always  silent,  but  the  vowel  or  consonant  follow- 
ing it  is  forcibly  sounded ;  as  "mairt-fheoil,"  beef  (^pron. 
moL  rt  oivil^;  "  muic-flieoil,"  jt?(?rA:  Qpron.  mu'k  owil.^  Fh 
is  never  final  in  a  word,  nor  does  it  occur  in  the  middle 
of  any  word  except  a  compound. 


*  Tbe  vowel  i  is  not  lengthened  before  a  silent  aspirate,  when  it  occurs  in 
any  of  the  triphthongs  uai,  iai,  eoi,  iui,  or  in  any  of  the  improper  diphthongs 
when  the  accompanying  prominent  vowel  is  long;  as  in  the  words  "leigh. 
eann,"  literature;  "caidheach,"  polluted;  "oighe,"  %T:rgins;  etc.  When  the 
prominent  vowel  is  short,  then  the  i  becomes  long,  sometimes — as  iu  ei — 
assuming  the  diphthongal  sound  of  i  in  the  English  word  "  fire." 

The  other  exception  to  this  rule  are  passive  participles  of  verbs  of  the 
second  conjugation  ending  in  "ighthe,"  in  which  termination  the  i  is  always 
short;  as  "  arduighthe,"  elevated,  "  orduighthe,"  ordered. 

t  In  West  Munster,  the  dh  or  gh  final  is  often  sounded  like  g  (hard).  This 
generally  occurs  when  a  word  ending  in  dh  or  gh  is  followed  by  another 
word  beginning  with  a  vowel,  in  which  case  it  becomes  necessary  that  the 
silent  letter  at  the  end  of  the  preceding  word  should  assume  its  consonantal 
sotmd  to  prevent  a  hiatus.  Kow,  it  is  impossible  to  maintain  the  y  sound,  as 
a  consonant,  at  the  end  of  a  word,  hence  the  cognate  sovmd  of  g  (radical) 
given  to  the  dh  or  gh  final.  Examples:  "  Feadli  na  h-oidhche."  throughout 
the  night  (pron.  fa  na  heehe) ;  "  feadh  an  lae,"  throughout  the  day  (pron.  fag 
an  lhay) ;  "  d'  imthigh  na  fir,"  the  men  went  (pron.  dimmi  na  fir) ;  "  d'  imthigh 
an  fear"  the  man  went  (pron.  dimmig  an  far.)  The  proper  sound  of  dh  or 
gb,  in  this  situation,  is  a  light  guttural,  pailaking  both  of  the  consonantal 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


61 


Ph. 

Ph  takes  the  sound  of  ph  or/;  as  "a  phus,"  his  lip; 
"a  phort,"  his  tune. 

Sh  and  Th. 

Sh  and  th  both  take  the  sound  of  Ji;  as  "shuas,"  above 
(^pron.  Jioo-as')  ;  "brathair,"  a  brother  (^pron.  braw-hir.') 
Sh  never  ends  a  word,  and  occurs  in  the  middle  of  com- 
pounds only.  The  letter  s  never  admits  of  being  aspir- 
ated except  when  followed  by  a  vowel  or  an  immutable 
consonant  ( 1,  n,  r.)  Th  final  is  faintly  sounded,  except 
when  the  following  word  begins  with  a  vowel. 


sound  of  y  and  the  aspirate  sound  of  h.  This  sound  the  student  can  easily 
arrive  at,  by  pronouncing  the  dh  or  gh  final  as  if  it  formed  the  initial  letter 
of  the  following  word,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  French  liaison." 

In  Connacht,  the  hiatus  is  avoided,  not  by  articulating  the  final  aspirate 
of  the  preceding  word,  but  by  lengthening  the  vowel  immediately  preceding 
that  aspirate ;  as  "  d'  imthigh  an  fear,"  (pron.  dim-mee  an  far.)  This  method 
of  preventing  a  hiatus  is  sometimes  used  in  English.  The  definite  ai'ticle, 
the,"  for  instance,  when  placed  before  a  word  beginning  with  a  consonant, 
has  the  vowel  e  very  short  in  sound;  as  "  the  man,"  the  book,"  "  the  time  " ; 
but  when  placed  before  a  word  beginning  with  a  vowel,  there  is  a  perceptible 
lengthening  of  the  e  sound,  to  prevent  a  hiatus;  as  "the  ocean,"  "the  altar," 
"the  air."  From  this  we  see,  then,  that  when  two  vowels  come  together, 
there  are  two  ways  of  preventing  a  hiatus  between  them ;  viz.,  (1)  By  leng- 
thening one  of  the  vowels  (generally  the  preceding  one) ;  (2)  by  interposing 
a  consonantal  sound. 

The  aspirate  dh  is  always  employed  at  the  end  of  certain  tenses  of  the 
verb,  and  in  this  position  it  would  seem  to  demand  a  decided  consonantal 
aiticulation,  whether  the  following  word  begin  -with  a  vowel  or  not.  In  the 
past  indefinite  (or  habitual)  tense,  it  sounds  like  ch;  as  "  do  bhuaileadh  se," 
he  used  to  strike;  "do  ghlanadh  se,"  he  used  to  clean.  In  the  past  tense, 
definite,  of  the  Passive  Voice  (which  is  the  same  in  form  as  the  past  inde- 
finite of  the  Active  Voice,  with  the  exception  of  the  absence  of  the  initial 
aspiration)  it  sounds  like  g  (hard)  in  most  parts  of  3Iunster,  but  in  the  countj- 
Kerry  it  sounds  like  mh,  and  sometimes  like  ch;  as  "do  buaileadh  e,"  he  was 
struck;  "  do  glanadh  e,"  it  was  cleaned.  In  Connacht,  the  dh  at  the  end  of  a 
verb  gets  no  consonantal  sound  whatever,  but,  as  above  stated,  the  preceding 
vowel  is  lengthened  in  sound,  the  vowel  a  being  sounded  like  u;  as  "do 
buaileadh  e,"  he  was  struck  (pron.  dhu  boo-loo  a.) 


62 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


Aspiration,  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  used  here,  means 
the  softening  of  the  radical  sound  of  a  consonant,  for  the 
sake  of  euphony  or  ease  of  utterance.  When  two  words 
are  united  in  forming  a  compound,  the  second  usually 
suffers  a  softening  or  aspiration  of  its  initial  consonant 
( if  that  consonant  be  of  the  aspirabe  or  mutable  class.) 
Thus  "treun,"  noble  and  "croidhe,"  a  hearty  form  the 
compound  "  treun-chroidheach,"  noble-hearted:  in  which 
the  initial  c  of  "croidhe  "  suffers  aspiration,  to  enable  the 
two  words  to  blend  together  more  smoothly  and  form  a 
composite  whole.  So  also  "  mor-chroidheach,"  big-hearted; 
"geur-shuileach,"'  sharp-eyed.  When  the  second  part  of 
the  compound  begins  with  d  or  t,  and  the  first  part  ends 
in  d,  t,  s,  1,  or  n,  aspiration  does  not  take  place,  as  the 
blending  of  these  lingual  letters  Ls  considered  euphonic 
enough  \\dthout  aspiration. 

The  necessity  of  euphony  in  language  is  the  main  cause 
of  aspiration.  There  is,  however,  another  necessity, 
equally  urgent,  which  occasions  aspiration  —  generally  of 
the  final  consonant  of  a  word  —  and  that  is  the  necessity 
of  differentiation.  The  adjective  "anamh,"  rare^  for  in- 
stance, has  been  differentiated  from  the  noun  "anam,'*  a 
soul,  by  having  the  final  consonant  aspirated;  and  the 
noun  "cath,"  a  battle,  has  been  differentiated  from  the 
noun  "cat,''  a  cat,  in  the  same  way.  When,  therefore,  a 
word  has  been  differentiated  in  meaning,  a  corresponding 
differentiation  must  take  place  in  its  sound,  and  this  is 
conveniently  brought  about  by  aspirating  one  of  its  con- 
sonants. 

The  initial  consonant  of  a  word  is  never  aspirated  either 
for  the  sake  of  euphony  or  differentiation.  All  Gaelic 
words,  then,  taken  individually,  have  their  initials  radical. 
There  are  a  few  words  which  appear  with  affected  initials 
such  as  ''shuas,"  above,  "shios,"  belozv,  and  "chum,''  to  or 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


63 


for ;  but  these  affected  consonants  are  not  the  real  initials 
of  those  words,  which  are  but  corruptions  of  the  older 
compounds  "ba-shuas,"  "ba-shios,"  "do-chum." 

The  sound  which  an  aspirate  consonant  has  in  a  simple 
or  primitive  word  does  not  change  when  the  simple  word 
forms  part  of  a  compound  or  derivative.  The  compound 
"  glan-radharcach,"  clear-sighted^  is  pronounced  glan-rey- 
erkach  (^not  glan-reerkach^ ;  and  "  deagh-labhartha,"  well- 
spoken^  is  pronounced  da-lowrha  (^not  da-loorha.)  The 
exception  to  this  rule  are  primitive  words  ending  in  bh  or 
mh  preceded  by  r,  o,  or  u.  The  primitive  "  garbh,"  roughs 
is  pronounced  garav^  but  the  derivative  "garbhas"  comes 
under  the  general  rule,  being  pronounced  ga-roos  (^not 
gar-vas.^  The  primitive  "dubh,"  blacky  is  pronounced 
dhuv,  but  the  derivative  "  ur-dhubhadh,"  obscuration,  is 
pronounced  oor-yhoo  (^not  oor-ghuva.}  Under  this  head, 
also,  may  be  classed  proper  nouns  and  verbs  ending  in  dh 
or  gh,  which,  when  they  take  an  additional  syllable  in  the 
course  of  inflection,  change  the  vowel  a  of  the  last  syl- 
lable into  u;  as  "Murchadh,"  Murcha,  "mac  Murchudha," 
(genitive)  son  of  3furcha ;  "ardaigh,"  elevate,  "ardugh- 
adh,  elevation. 

II.  ECLIPSIS. 

Eclipsis  is  the  complete  or  partial  suppression  of  the 
sound  of  a  consonant  by  the  influence  of  another  con- 
sonant of  softer  timbre  placed  immediately  before  it ;  as 
appears  in  the  combination  mn  in  hymn,  condemn,  and  7nb 
in  lamb,  limb,  etc.  This  suppression  of  the  sound  of  the 
second  consonant  by  the  influence  of  the  first,  is  called, 
in  the  old  Gaelic  grammars,  "  ur-dhubhadh,"  which  word 
literally  means  obscuration  or  eclipsis.  There  are  in  Gael- 
ic eight  combinations  of  eclipsis;  viz., 

mb,  gc,  nd,  bhf,  ng,  bp,  dt,  (ts). 


64 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


The  letter  n  does  not  completely  eclipse  the  letter  g,  as 
both  consonants  are  distinctly  sounded,  like  ng  in  song. 
The  combination  nd  has  the  force  of  nn. 

A  combination  of  eclipsis,  like  aspiration,  never  appears, 
at  the  beginning  of  an  individual  word,  and  never  at  the 
end  except  ng,  and  in  the  old  manuscripts  nd,  now  repre- 
sented by  nn.  Eclipsis,  therefore,  takes  place  when  words 
are  compounded,  but  it  is  generally  confined  to  cases 
where  words  are  compounded  with  the  negative  prefix 
"eu,"n(?^;as  "eugcoir,"  injustice  (from  "eu,"  not  and 
"coir,"  y^s^zcg)  ;  "eudtrom,"  light  (from  " eu,"  tio^  and 
"trom,"  heavy. ^  The  negative  particle  "di,"  which,  like 
all  such  prefixes,  has  the  power  of  causing  aspiration, 
causes  eclipsis  when  the  following  consonant  is  a  b;  as 
"diombuan,"  transient  (from  "di,"  not  and  "buan," 
lasting.^  The  privative  "an,"  eclij)ses  the  consonant  f 
and  aspirates  all  others;  as  "ainbhfios,"  ignorance  (from 
"an,"  not  and  "fios,"  knowledge.^  The  English  privative 
in  causes  a  change  somewhat  like  the  Gaelic  eclipsis  ; 
thus  in-possible  becomes  impossible,  in-personal  becomes 
impersonal,  and  so  forth. 

Eclipsis,  like  aspiration,  means  the  modification  of  the 
radical  sound  of  a  consonant  from  hard  to  soft.  The 
main  difference  between  these  two  modifications  is,  that 
one  is  a  degree  softer  than  the  other.  Aspiration  is 
marked,  as  we  have  seen,  by  an  h  placed  after,  or  a  dot 
placed  over,  the  consonant  affected ;  and  eclipsis  is  mark- 
ed by  having  the  consonant  expressing  the  secondary 
sound  placed  before  the  consonant  assuming  that  sound. 
Both  aspiration  and  eclipsis,  it  will  be  seen,  are  based  on 
the  same  principle  —  that  of  euphony,  or  ease  of  utter- 
ance —  the  difference  between  them  being  one  of  degree 
only. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


65 


Vocabulary. 


The  following  vocabulary  is  intended  to  illustrate  the 
phenomena  of  Aspiration  and  Eclipsis.  Every  word 
therein  given  contains  at  least  an  aspirated  or  an  eclipsed 
consonant. 


lamh,  a  hand. 
samh,  sedate, 
luach,  p7'ice,  value, 
breagh,  fiiie,  beautiful, 
adh,  luck, 
traigh,  a  strand. 
cruaidh,  hard;  steel, 
rath,  a  rath. 
ath,  a  ford. 
dubhan,  a  kidney, 
sglabhaidhe,  a  laborer, 
dubhach,  melancholy, 
taobh,  a  side. 
uamhan,  terror, 
leamh,  raw^  fresh. 
craoiseach,  a  javelin, 
baoghal,  danger, 
buidhe,  yellow, 
lomhaigh,  image, 
lathair,  a  site^ 
leathar,  leather, 
cathaoir  a  chair. 
arthach,  a  vessel^  ship, 
diombuan,  transient^ 
eugcoir,  injustice^ 
lan-tsasamli,  full-satisfaction. 
coimheasgar,  a  conflict. 


dubh,  black, 
damh,  an  ox, 
seiche,  a  hide, 
sleagh,  a  spear, 
fleadh,  a  feast, 
troigh,  afoot, 
aghaidh,  a  face, 
rath,  prosperity, 
teith,  hot.,  warm, 
abha,  a  river, 
cabhair,  help, 
meabhair,  mind.,  mentality. 
leabhar,  a  book, 
lanamha,  a  couple, 
leamhnacht,  fresh  milk, 
bruighean,  feud^  strife, 
bliadhain,  a  year. 
laoigh-flieoii,  veal. 
leath-phigin,  a  half -penny, 
mathair,  a  mother, 
cathair,  a  city, 
soitheach,  a  vessel;  barrel, 
leathan,  broad. 
ainbhfios,  ignorance^ 
teanga,  a  tongue^  language, 
eudtrom,  light. 
taoiseach,  a  chieftain 


66 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


EXERCISE  K 

1.  Ta  an  teanga  arsa.  2.  Samhradh  breagh,  teith. 
3.  Ta  laoigh-fheoil  saor.  4.  Leabhar  agas  fios,  ceist  agus 
ainbhfios.  5.  Fear  diomhaoin,  damh  dubb  agus  baoghal. 
6.  An  galar  buidhe.  7".  Ath  agus  abba  agus  Samhradh 
breagh,  teith.  8.  Ta  an  abha  leathan.  9.  Solas  buan 
agus  cuan  breagh,  fear  agus  lomhaigh.  10.  Ta  an  leabh- 
ar ag^s  an  mala  eudtrom.  11.  Ta  an  sglabhaidhe  dall, 
agus  ta  se  fann,  lag.  12.  Ta  an  ceol  arsa,  agus  ta  se 
breagh,  binn.  13.  Urlar  cruaidh  agus  doras  leathan.  14. 
Ta  an  talamh  saor  agus  ta  an  cios  daor.  15.  Cios  ard. 
16.  Fear  agus  capall,  talamh  agus  cios.  17.  Aran  saor. 
18.  Ughdar  6g  agus  leabhar  deas.  19.  Ta  ainbhfios  olc. 
20.  Ta  an  sgian  geur  agus  ta  an  sglabhaidhe  umhal. 

21.  Gort  a's  giusta,  siur  a's  mathair. 
Port  a's  curam,  dun  a's  lathair. 

22.  Ta  'n  coinnleoir  ard  a's  ta  'n  mala  mor, 

Ta  'n  inghean  breagh  a's  ta  'n  folt  tiugh,  borr. 

Translation. 

1.  The  language  is  ancient.  2.  A  fine,  warm  Summer. 
3.  Veal  is  cheap.  4.  A  book  and  knowledge,  a  question 
and  ignorance.  5.  A  ti  idle  man,  a  black  ox  and  danger. 
6.  The  yellow  disease  (^jaundice.')  7.  A  ford  and  a  river 
and  a  fine,  warm  Summer.  8.  The  river  is  wide.  9. 
Perpetual  comfort  and  a  fine  harbor,  a  man  and  an  image. 
10.  The  book  and  the  bag  are  light.  11.  The  laborer  is 
blind  (or  dull),  and  he  is  weary  and  weak.  12.  The 
music  is  ancient,  and  it  is  fine  aiid  melodious.  13.  A 
hard  floor  and  a  wide  door.  14.  The  land  is  cheap  and 
the  rent  is  dear.  15.  High  rent.  16.  A  man  and  a 
hcrse,  land  and  rent.  17.  Cheap  bread.  18.  A  young 
author  and  a  pretty  book.  19.  Ignorance  is  bad.  20. 
The  knife  is  sharp  and  the  workingman  is  humble. 


INITIAL  ASPIRATION  AND  ECLIPSIS. 


LESSON  VI. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Gaelic  words,  when  taken 
separately,  have  their  initials  radical:  i.  e.,  unaffected  by 
aspiration  or  eclipsis.  When,  however,  words  are  strung 
together  in  a  sentence,  they  so  affect  one  another  that  the 
initial  consonants  of  some  words  are  sometimes  affected  — 
aspirated  or  eclipsed  —  by  the  influence  of  other  words 
immediately  going  before  them.  The  words  which  are 
susceptible  of  having  their  initials  affected  in  this  manner 
are  the  Nouns,  Adjectives,  and  Verbs  ;  and  the  words 
which  have  the  power  of  influencing  them  are  the  Part- 
icles, that  is,  the  uninflectional  element  in  the  language. 
For  example,  the  possessive  pronouns,  singular,  "mo," 
my^  "do,"  thy^  and  "a,"  his^  cause  aspiration  of  the  initial 
consonant  of  the  following  noun;  while  their  plural  forms 
"  ar,"  our^  "  bhur,"  your^  and  "  a,"  their^  cause  eclipsis,  as 
may  be  seen  from  the  following :  — 

mo  bhad,  my  boat.  ar  mbad,  our  boat. 

do  bhad,  thy  boat,  bhur  mbad,  your  boat, 

a  bhad,  his  boat.  a  mbad,  their  boat, 

a  bad,  her  boat  (  causes  no  change,') 


68 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  a  mutable  con- 
sonant, when  initial,  is  susceptible  of  assuming  three  dis- 
tinct sounds,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  particle  that 
precedes  and  affects  it.  These  are:  (1)  the  radical  sound, 
(2)  a  softer  sound,  called  eclipsis,  (3)  a  softer  sound  still, 
called  aspiration. 

This  mutability  of  the  initial  consonant  of  a  word, 
under  the  influence  of  a  preceding  and  independent  word, 
which  forms  the  subject  of  the  present  lesson,  is  to  be 
clearly  distinguished  from  the  change  which  a  mutable 
consonant  suffers  when  two  words  enter  into  composition, 
as  exemplified  in  Lesson  V. ;  and  yet  the  modification  of 
the  consonant  in  both  these  instances  is  based  on  the  same 
principle  —  that  of  euphony,  or  ease  of  utterance. 

When  two  words  are  brought  together  in  the  formation 
of  a  compound  term,  we  can  easily  see  that,  as  both  com- 
ponents of  the  term  are  closely  connected,  a  principle  of 
euphony  —  as  also  a  principle  of  differentiation — requires 
that  the  initial  consonant  of  the  second  word  be  affected, 
to  enable  both  words  to  fuse  together  and  become  incor- 
porated the  more  smoothly.  We  can  easily  see  also  that, 
by  an  extension  of  this  rule,  it  will  be  made  to  include 
words  which,  though  independent,  are  closely  connected 
in  a  sentence.  Now,  as  a  particle,  from  its  nature  and 
office,  is  a  word  which,  in  many  cases,  is  closely  connected 
in  thought  and  even  in  expression  mth  the  more  promi- 
nent word  to  which  it  pertains :  so  much  so,  indeed,  that 
both  may  be  said  to  form  constituent  parts  of  a  single 
term ;  it  will  not  seem  strange  that  certain  particles,  thus 
logically  and  grammatically  connected  with  the  words 
following  them,  should  have  the  power  of  affecting  the 
initials  of  these  words,  on  the  principle  of  euphony  al- 
ready referred  to.  So  well  was  this  fact  understood  by 
the  ancient  scribes,  and  so  solicitous  were  they  to  impress 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


69 


it  on  the  mind  of  the  reader  that,  in  the  manuscript  works 
which  they  wrote,  they  usually  incorporated  the  particles 
with  the  words  following  them.  Such  incorporated  par- 
ticles have  now  come  to  be  called  Proclitics^  wliich  they 
really  are.  In  modern  writings,  it  will  be  observed,  of 
course,  that  the  particles  are  never  incorporated  with  the 
words  following  them,  but  are  always  written  out  anal}^- 
tically;  notwithstanding  that,  however,  the  fact  remains 
that  they  are  proclitic :  that  is,  that  they  are  closely  con- 
nected in  thought  and  expression  with  the  words  whose 
initials  they  affect. 

How  far  this  affection  of  the  initial  consonants  of  in- 
dependent words  is  prevalent  in  other  languages,  and  how 
far  it  may  be  supposed  to  be  a  characteristic  of  language 
in  general,  may  be  now  considered.  The  following  ex- 
tract from  Prichard's  Eastern  Origin  of  the  Celtic  Nations 
(page  27),  will  bear  some  testimony  on  this  point:  — 

"  It  is  a  habit  common  to  many  of  the  Indo-European 
languages  to  interchange  certain  letters  according  to  rules 
founded  originally  on  euphony,  or  on  the  facility  of  utter- 
ance ;  and  from  this  circumstance  arises  the  great  capa- 
bility which  these  languages  possess,  of  composition,  or 
the  formation  of  compound  words.  The  substitution  of 
consonants  of  particular  orders  for  their  cognates,  which 
takes  place  in  Greek,  in  the  composition  of  words,  and  in 
some  other  instances,  is  an  example  of  this  peculiarit}^ 

In  Greek,  in  Latin,  and  in  the  German  dialects,  the 
mutation  of  consonants  is  confined  to  words  brought  to- 
gether under  very  peculiar  circumstances,  as  chiefly  when 
they  enter  into  the  formation  of  compound  terms,  and  it 
is  scarcely  observed  in  words  which  still  remain  distinct, 
and  are  merely  constituent  parts  of  sentences.  Either  the 
attention  to  euphony,  and  the  ease  of  utterance,  has  not 
extended  so  far,  or  the  purpose  was  attained  by  a  change 
of  collocation,  the  words  themselves  remaining  unaltered. 
But  in  the  Sanscrit  language,  words  merely  in  sequence 
have  an  influence  upon  each  other  in  the  change  of  ter- 


70 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


minations,  and  sometimes  of  initial  letters,  on  the  prin- 
ciple above  alluded  to." 

Here  we  find,  then,  that  the  very  phenomenon  which 
we  have  been  studpng ;  namely,  the  euphonic  changes  of 
initial  consonants  of  words  in  sequence,  is  also  observable 
in  Sanscrit;  or,  as  Prichard  expresses  it,  "in  the  Sanscrit 
language,  words  merely  in  sequence  have  an  influence 
upon  each  other  in  the  change  of  *  *  *  initial  con- 
sonants." A  phenomenon  wliich  is  common  to  two  lan- 
guages so  widely  separated  as  Gaelic  and  Sanscrit  cannot 
be  said  to  be  entirely  foreign  to  the  other  members  of  the 
Aryan  family  of  languages,  not^vithstanding  Prichard's 
statement  that  ''it  is  scarcely  observed  in  Greek,  in  Latin 
and  in  the  German  dialects."  For  those  who,  like  Prich- 
ard, doubt  the  existence  of  tliis  phenomenon  in  any  lan- 
guage other  than  Gaelic  and  Sanscrit,  it  may,  possibh',  be 
a  sufficient  refutation  to  show  that  instances  of  its  occur- 
rence in  modern  English  are  conspicuous  enough.  In- 
itial consonant  mutation,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  does 
indeed  take  place  in  English,  but  it  is  confined  to  the 
consonant  y  in  a  few  words.  The  initial  y  in  the  word 
you^  for  example,  when  preceded  by  a  monosyllable  end- 
ing in  a  dental,  is  changed  to  cli ;  as  may  be  heard  in  tlie 
following  expressions  :  "  Doitt  you  hioiv'^  (^pron.  don''  cliou 
know');  1  grant  you  tliaV^  (^i?ron,  I  gran^  cliou  that.) 
etc.  In  the  expression  '•''Last  year''''  (^pron.  las'  gear)^ 
the  initial  y  is  changed  to  g  (soft).  From  these  examples 
we  see  that,  in  colloquial  speech  at  least,  the  initial  in 
English,  is  sometimes  changed  to  ch  and  to  g  (soft),  when 
preceded  by  a  monosyllable  ending  in  a  dental.  We  see, 
too,  that  the  final  dental  of  the  preceding  word,  which 
causes  the  change,  is  sunk  in  the  pronunciation.  So  also 
in  Gaelic,  the  rule  is  that  Aspiration  is  caused  by  a  mono- 
syllabic word  which  originally  ended  in  a  d,  and  Eclipsis 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


71 


is  caused  by  a  monosyllabic  word  Avhich  originally  ended 
in  an  n. 

Another  good  example  of  the  "influence  of  words 
merely  in  sequence  in  the  change  of  initial  consonants," 
is  furnished  by  the  modern  Greek.  Scholars  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  modern  pronunciation  of  Greek,  know 
that,  in  that  language,  the  definite  article  ten  (accusative) 
changes  the  initial  p  of  the  following  noun  into  5,  and 
changes  the  initial  t  into  d.  Thus  ten  polin  is  pronounced 
ten  bolin,  or,  as  it  would  be  written  according  to  the  Gael- 
ic system  of  eclipsis,  ten  hpolin ;  and  ten  timen  is  pro- 
nounced ten  dimen  (ten  dtimeii)  etc. 

These  euphonic  changes  in  Greek,  and  in  ever}^  other 
modern  language  in  which  they  occur,  are  never  indicated 
in  writing,  but  are  merely  colloquial.  Even  in  ancient 
Gaelic,  the  modified  sound  of  a  consonant  Avas  never 
pointed  out  by  any  special  mark  in  the  written  language, 
except  in  situations  where  that  sound  was  permanent  and 
organic* 

Some  persons  have  conjectured  that,  because  of  the  ab- 
sence of  initial  mutation  in  the  written  Gaelic  of  ancient 
times,  the  initial  consonants  must  been  sounded  as 

written,  i.  e.,  redical,  in  all  cases  where  they  are  now 
either  aspirated  or  eclipsed.  But  this  idea  is  entirely  er- 
roneous, and  deserves  to  be  put  on  a  jDar  with  that  other 
idea,  so  often  inculcated  in  times  gone  by,  namely,  that 
Aspiration  and  EclijDsis  were  phenomena  peculiar  to  Gael- 
ic alone  !  —  were,  in  fact,  linguistic  blemishes,  of  which 


*Tbe  transient  sounds  of  Gaelic  laave  become  permanent  in  other  Ian- 
guages.  Thus  the  Gaelic  "  Baile,"  a  habitation,  Avhich  after  an  aspirating 
particle  is,  for  the  time  being,  pronounced  "  Vaile,"  is,  in  Latin,  always  writ- 
ten and  pronounced  *'  Villa,"  the  radical  b  having  altogether  disappeared 
from  the  Latin  word.  It  is  only  when  the  radical  sound  and  the  aspirate, 
transient  sound  are  both  held  and  exist  side  by  side,  as  in  Gaelic,  that  the 
phenomenon  of  consonant  mutation  is  seen  at  its  best, 


72 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


our  immaculate  (?)  English,  and  every  other  fasliionable 
jorgan,  contained  not  a  single  trace ! !  A  more  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  Gaelic  language,  and  of  languages  m 
general,  will  dispel  many  a  false  notion,  hitherto  enter- 
tained, even  by  reputable  persons,  and  will  enable  the 
student  to  recognize  the  fact  that,  as  the  late  Professor 
William  D wight  Whitney,  of  Yale  College,  Connecticut, 
truly  said,  "  every  living  and  growing  language  has  that 
within  it  wliich  exemplifies  the  essential  facts  and  prin- 
ciples belonging  to  all  human  speech." 

The  three  cognate  sounds  which  an  initial  mutable  con- 
sonant is  susceptible  of  assuming,  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  euphony,  are  exemplified  in  the  following  table : 


KADICAL.  ASPIRATED.  ECLIPSED. 


b 

bh 

mb* 

c 

ch 

gc 

d 

dh 

nd 

f 

fh 

bhf 

8 

ng 

m 

mh 

P 

ph 

bp 

s 

sh  (ts) 

t 

th 

dt 

*  When,  in  modern  times,  a  radical  consonant  changes  its  sound,  or  be- 
comes softened  for  the  sake  of  euphony,  the  secondary  sound  it  assumes 
belongs  to  the  same  organ  of  speech  as  the  radical  itself.  In  ancient  times, 
"When  the  number  of  distinct  consonantal  sounds  produced  by  any  given  or- 
gan was  more  limited  than  at  present,  there  existed  a  system  of  aspiration, 
or  consonant  mollification,  according  to  which  consonants  belonging  to  two 
different  organs  of  speech  were  interchangeable,  just  as  the  b  and  m,  or  the 
b  and  v  are  at  present.  Away  back  in  prehistoric  times,  when  the  residents 
of  certain  localities  of  the  European  continent  thought  of  aspirating,  or  soft- 
ening, the  radical  c,  they  did  not  change  it  to  ch  — for  that  sound  was  then 
unknown  — but  they  changed  it  to  p.  Hence,  the  Gaelic  "cenn,"  a  head,  be 
came  in  Welsh  "pen,"  the  Gaelic  "mac,"  a  son,  became  in  Welsh  "map," 
and  the  Gaelic  "lec,"  a  flagstone,  became  in  Latin  "lap(is)."  The  prehis- 
toric woi-d  "  gia,"  food  (  Basque  "  oguia,"  Egryptian  "  oik  "),  became  in  Gael- 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


73 


All  consonants  susceptible  of  initial  aspiration  are  also 
susceptible  of  initial  eclipsis,  with  the  exception  of  m  and 
s.  The  letter  m  is  never  eclipsed,  and  the  apparent  ec- 
lipsis of  s,  as  seen  in  the  combination  ts,  is  but  another 
liind  of  aspiration,  and  occurs  only  after  aspirating  par- 
ticles which  terminate  in  an  n ;  as  "  aon  bhean,"  any  wo- 
man;  "aon  tsort,"  any  sort  (not  "aon  sh6rt.)f 

There  are  three  kinds  of  particles ;  viz.,  Eclipsing  Par- 
ticles^ Aspirating  Particles^  and  Neutral  Particles.  The 
influences  which  these  have  upon  a  word  beginning  with  a 
vowel  are  set  forth  in  the  following  three  rules :  — 

I.  Eclipsing  Particles  take  n  before  an  initial  vow- 
el; as  "ar  n-aran,"  our  bread;  "bhur  n-aran,"  your  bread; 
"a  n-aran,"  their  bread.  [Here  we  have  the  reappear- 
ance of  the  n  which  originally  ended  the  particle.]  When 
the  particle  already  ends  in  n  (  such  as  a  compound  part- 
icle made  up  of  a  preposition  and  the  definite  article,  an), 
the  eclipsing,  or  hyphenated  n  is  not  used ;  as  "  ar  an  ur- 
lar,"  on  the  floor  (not  "  ar  an  n-urlar.")  The  same  rule 
holds  good  when  the  following  word  begins  with  a  d  (the 


ic  "  bia,"  now  written  "  biadh."  In  all  such  cases,  we  find  that  the  guttural 
(  c  or  g )  has  become  a  labial  (  p,  b,  or  m.) 

In  some  localities,  the  guttural  ( c  or  g )  was  changed  to  a  dental  ( t,  d,  or 
s ).  Thus,  the  Gaelic  "  cabhair,"  help,  became  in  Greek  "  timoria,"  the  Gael- 
ic "oll-cu,"  a  wild-dog,  modern  "on-chu,"  became  in  Spanish  "  onza  "  (  Bas- 
gue  "otzoa,"  Egyptian  "ounsh,"  English  "ounce"),  and  the  Gaelic  "  cor- 
caca,"  marshes,  became  in  Latin  "Corsica,"  which  is  the  name  of  a  well 
known  island  in  the  Mediterranean,  noted  for  its  marshes. 

The  great  characteristic  of  this  system  of  prehistoric  aspiration,  as  we 
may  call  it,  is  that  it  involves  a  law  of  compensation :  so  that  for  every  prim, 
itive  guttural  that  was  changed  to  a  labial  or  dental,  there  was  a  primitive 
labial  or  dental  changed  back  to  a  guttural.  While,  for  example,  the  prim, 
itive  "crann,"  a  tree,  became  in  Welsh  "pren,"  as  a  compensation  for  this 
the  primitive  "plat,"  a  prince  (Gaelic  "flaith,"  Assyrian  "bulata,")  became 
in  Welsh  "  culat,"  modern  "  gwlad."  For  modern  instances  of  this  law  of 
compensation  in  language,  see  footnote  page  56. 

t  Another  peculiarity  to  be  noted  in  connection  with  Aspirating  Pai'ticles 
terminating  in  an  n,  is  that  they  have  no  effect  on  a  dental  ( t  or  d  ) ;  as  "  aon 
duine,"  any  man,  "  aon  teine,"  any  fire. 


74 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  CF  GAELIC. 


eclipsing  letter  of  which  is  n)  ;  as  "ag  an  doras,"  at  the 
door  (not  "  ag  an  ndoi*as.") 

II.  Aspirating  Particles  have  no  influence  upon  a 
word  beginning  with  a  voAvel ;  but 

(1)  If  the  final  vowel  of  the  particle  is  short,  it  is 
elided,  to  prevent  a  hiatus;  as ''m'  anam,"  my  soul; 
'*d'  anam,"  thy  soul ;  "'anam,"  his  soul  (for  "a  anam.*') 

(2)  If  the  final  vowel  of  the  particle  is  long,  it  is 
not  elided,  as  the  long  vowel  is,  in  itself,  sufficient  to  pre- 
vent a  hiatus  (see  foot-note,  page  61);  as  "fa  uir  na 
cille,*'  under  the  clay  (^of)  the  churchyard ;  "  ro  imthigh 
se,"  he  went  (i.  e.^  he  did  go^  or^  literally^  did  go  he.) 

III.  Neutral  Particles  take  h  before  an  initial 
vowel;  as  "ah-anam,"  her  soul;  "  na  h-eigse,"' f/ie  j:>06?^.s; 
"tri  h-eisg,"  three  fishes;  "le  h-eirghe  an  lae,"  at  the 
daivn  of  day  (literally^  iv\1:h  the  rising  of  the  day.) 

This  threefold  classification  of  the  particles  is  not  to  be 
confounded  with  that  twofold  classification  of  the  words 
of  the  language  into  particles  and  non-particles.  The 
Gaelic  language  divides  itself  up,  naturally,  into  two 
grand  divisions ;  viz.,  (1)  words  that  cause  initial  cliange 
and  (2)  words  that  suffer  initial  change.  We  lia\-e  al- 
ready stated,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  le<son, 
that  the  words  which  suffer  initial  change  are  the  Xouns, 
Adjectives,  and  Verbs.  Hence,  therefore,  if  from  the 
whole  body  of  the  language  we  take  away  the  nouns,  ad- 
jectives, and  verbs,  the  remaining  words  Avill  come  under 
the  head  of  Particles.  For  this  reason,  the  ancient  gram- 
marians called  the  particles  "  iarmbeurlaidhe,"  i.  e.,  rem- 
nant-words. The  whole  number  of  particles,  or  remnant- 
words,  in  the  language  may  be  estimated  as  follows : 


Articles 

Pronouns 

Prepositions 


1. 
36. 
21. 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


75 


Conjunctions 

33. 

Interjections 

13. 

Trrpcrnlnv  arlippt.i VPS* 

15. 

Irregular  adverbs 

12. 

Irregular  verbs 

12. 

Verbal  intensives 

2. 

Total, 

145. 

Quite  a  number  of  these  simple  particles  are  com' 
pounded,  producing  what  are  called  compound  particles. 
The  simple  preposition,  for  instance,  when  it  governs 
(precedes)  a  personal  pronoun,  will  amalgamate  with  it, 
both  producing  a  single  word,  called  a  prepositional  pro- 
noun; thus  "ar  tu,"  on  thee^  becomes  "ort,"  "fa  tu,"  un- 
der thee,  becomes  "fut,"  and  "le  tu,"  zvith  thee,  becomes 
"leat,"  as  exemplified  in  the  well  known  salutation  "slan 
leat,"  farewell  to  (luith)  thee  (identical  with  the  Hebrew 
Shalom  lekha).  There  are  more  of  those  compound  part- 
icles in  Gaelic  than  in  any  other  language. 

Part  II.  of  this  treatise  will  be  devoted  exclusively  to 
the  particles,  both  simj)le  and  compound,  and  will  give  all 
tlie  details  in  regard  to  the  euphonic  changes  which  they 
cause  on  the  initial  of  the  Noun,  Adjective,  or  Verb. 

Part  III.  will  be  devoted  exclusivel}'  to  the  Noun,  Ad- 
jective, and  Verb,  and  will  give  all  the  details  in  regard 
to  the  terminational  changes  which  these  words  undergo, 
generally  included  in  the  term  Etymology. 


*  By  the  word  Irregular,  as  applied  to  adjectives,  we  mean  to  distinguish 
a  certain  class  of  adjectives,  including  the  ten  numeral  adjectives,  which  are 
always  placed  before  the  noun  (causing  aspiration  and  eclipsis),  as  distin- 
guished from  the  generality  of  adjectives,  whose  natural  position  is  after  the 
noun;  and  by  Irregular  adverbs,  we  mean  to  distinguish  a  small  class  of  ad- 
verbs not  regularly  formed  or  derived  from  adjectives :  and  w^hich  are  some- 
times, rather  erroneously,  called  simple  adverbs. 


T6 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


Vocabulary. 

In  the  preceding  vocabularies,  we  have  given  only  nouns  ancl  adjectives, 
as  by  the  aid  of  these  alone  it  has  been  found  possible  to  illustrate  the  orth- 
ography of  the  language.  In  the  exercises  following  the  vocabularies,  we 
have  admitted  two  particles  — the  conjunction  "  agus"  and  the  ii-regular  verb 
"ta"  (present  tense),  as  these  were  found  to  be  elements  necessary  in  the 
formation  of  a  simple  sentence.  The  present  vocabulary  contains  a  large 
proportion  of  particles;  and  the  exercise  following  is  intended  to  illustrate 
the  use  of  those  particles,  to  give  further  exemplification  of  the  structure  of 
the  Gaelic  sentence,  and  to  form  an  easy  transition  between  parts  I.  and  II. 
of  this  treatise. 


ag,  at. 

le,  with. 

bocht,  poor. 

go,f  that;  80  that. 

maith,  good. 

tog,  take;  raise. 

so,  this;  here. 

sin,  that;  there. 

sud,  that;  i/oiider.j, 

O  Conaill,  O'ConnelL 

i,t  (a),  in.  § 

aim,  in;  there,  therein. 

ann  sin,  then,  there. 

ca,  where 


laidir,  strong. 
la,  a  day. 
do,*  to  ;  for. 

mac,  a  son. 

cuir,  put,  place  ;  send. 

fan,  stay,  remain]  wait. 

O  (ua),  a  grandson. 

Ni,  daughter. 

acht,  hut,  except. 

Mac  Carthaigh,  Mac  Carthy. 

a,*  0.  II 

ann  so,  here,  in  this  Qplace.^ 
ann  sud,  in  yon  Qplace.') 
oil,  for,  because. 


♦Causes  Aspiration, 
t  Causes  Eclipsis. 

X  The  demonstrative  pronouns  *'  so,"  "  sin  "  "  sud,"  are  encjitic,  and  the 
initial  s  takes  the  sound  of  the  final  consonant  of  the  preceding  word,  accord- 
ing as  that  is  broad  or  slender;  as  "  an  fear  so,"  this  man  (literally,  the  man 
here) ;  "  an  caUin  so,"  this  girl.  The  demonstrative  "  sud  "  drops  the  s  when 
written  with  a  noun  and  retains  it  when  written  with  a  pronoun ;  "ta  an  fear 
ud  gan  feoirlinn,"  that  man  is  without  a  farthing;  "  ta  se  sud  bocht,"  he  (lit. 
that  individual)  is  poor. 

§When  the  preposition  "i"  is  compounded  with  another  particle  it  be- 
comes "  a  " ;  as  "  am  cheann,"  in  ray  head  [for  "  i  mo  cheann.] 

II The  particle  "a"  is  placed  before  all  nouns  in  the  Nominative  of  Ad- 
dress, which  in  Gaelic  grammar  is  called  the  Vocative  Case.  When  translat. 
ing  into  English,  it  may  be  omitted,  except  on  occasions  of  solemn  invo- 
cation; as  "  a  Dhia,"  O  God;  "  a  Mhaighdean  Mhulre,"  O  Virgin  Mary. 

IT  The  interrogative  particle,  "  ca,"  is  rarely  used  independently,  but  is 
generally  followed  by  a  noun  or  pronoun,  which  again  is  followed  by  the 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


77 


ma*  (da),t  if.** 
ni*  (cha),  wof.ff 
muiriiin,  a  darling, 
beag,  little. 

do  bill,  was^  were^  did-he. 
do  bliiodh,  used-to-be.  {J 
Eibhli'n,  Mien. 
ar,*  on. 
mar,*  as^  like, 
tre,  through. 
crutli,  shape.,  form. 
cuaird,  a  circuit.,  journey. 
Dia,  G-od, 


an,t  whether. 

ml,  no^;  c?(?/i'^  (imperative.') 
mu-na,  if-not,  unless. 
paiste,  a  child. 
beidh.,  will-be,  shall-be. 
a,*  which,  that,  who. 
Caitiliii,  Kathleen. 
fa,*  (faoi),  under. 
cho,  so,  as. 
go,  to;  until. 
cruthuigh,  create,  shape, 
cuardaigh,  search. 
6,*  from  ;  since. 


relative  "a,"  as  "ca  meid  a  ta  ann,"  how  much  is  there  (lit.,  what  amount 
that  is  there.)  It  amalgamates  with  the  nouas  "rud,"  a  thiag  and  **nos,"  a 
manner,  producing  the  compounds  "creud"  (ca-rud)  or  "cad,"  what-thing, 
what,  and  "cionnas,"  (ca-nos)  what-manner,  how;  as  "cad  a  thug  ann  so 
thu,"?  what  brought  you  here  [lit.,  what  thing  that  brought  you  here.]  It  also 
amalgamates  with  the  pronoun  e,  producing  the  compound  "  ce "  (ca-e), 
what-individual,  who;  which  again  is  incorporated  with  the  relative  "a," 
producing  the  compound '*  cea  "  (sometimes  written  cia);  as  "cea  chuir  ann 
so  thu,"?  who  sent  you  here  [lit.,  what-individual-that  sent  you  here.] 

**  The  difference  between"  ma"  and  "da  "is  this:  "Ma"  is  used  with  all 
tenses  of  the  verb,  and  is  followed  by  the  Indicative  Mood,  and  "  da"  is  used 
only  with  the  past  tense,  and  is  followed  by  the  Subjunctive  Mood;  as  "  ma 
ta  se,"  if  it  is ;  "  ma  do  bhi  se,"  if  it  was ;  —  "  da  raibh  se,"  if  it  were. 

tt  These  two  forms  of  the  negative  are  not  now  used  side  by  side.  While 
"  cha"  alone  is  the  negative  used  in  Ulster  and  in  Scotland,  "ni"  alone  is  the 
negative  used  in  Munster,  Leinster,  and  Connacht.  In  ancient  manuscripts, 
we  find  a  compound,  or  double  negative,  "  nocha,"  made  up  of  ni  and  cha. 

The  past  tense  of  the  verb  takes  the  intensive  particle,  "  do,"  before  it; 
as,  "do  bhi  se,"  he  was;  "  do  chuir  se,"  he  put;  "do  chruthuigh  se,"  he  creat. 
ed  "  do  chuardaigh  se,"  he  searched.  This  intensive  particle  grives  the  same 
force  to  the  verb  as  the  English  "did"  in  such  emphatic  expressions  as  "did 
go,"  "did  come,"  "did  create,"  and  so  forth. 

There  are  two  tenses  expressing  past  time  — the  Past  Definite  and  the 
Past  Indefinite;  both  of  which  take  the  intensive  "do";  but  they  differ  in 
their  terminations.  The  Past  Definite  is  always  the  same  as  the  root,  or  stem 
of  the  verb;  as  "do  bhi  se,"hewas;  "do  clmir  se,"  he  put;  "do  chruthuigh 
se,"  he  created;  and  the  Past  Indefinite  adds  -adh  or  -odh;  as  "do  bhiodh 
se,"  he  used-to-be;  "do  chuireadh  se,"  he  used-to-put;  "do  chruthuigheadh 
se,"  he  used-to-create. 

In  the  ancient  language,  there  were  two  intensive  particles  —  one  for  each 
of  these  tenses  —  viz.,  '  do '  and  '  ro,'  the  former  being  used  with  the  indefinite 
(or  habitual)  tense,  and  the  latter  with  the  definite. 


78 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


EXERCISE  VI . 

(To  be  Translated  by  the  Student.) 

1.  Ta  an  la  breagh.  2.  Do  bhi  an  la  breagh.  3. 
Beidh  an  la  breagh.  4.  Do  bhi  an  fear  laiclir.  5.  Ta  an 
leabhar  ar  an  mbord.    6.  Cuir  an  leabhar  ar  an  mbord. 

7.  Tog  an  leabhar,  a  Chaitilm,  agus  cuir  ar  an  mbord  e. 

8.  An  fear  a  *  bhf  breoite.  9.  Ar  n-athair  a  ta  ar  neamh^ 
10.  An  bhf  nil  an  la  breagh?  11.  Ni  fhuil  an  la  breagh, 
acht  ta  se  fuar.    12.  O  bharr  go  bun.    13.  Ar  an  gcnoc  ; 


When  the  significance  of  the  verb  is  weakened  by  being  used  subjunc 
tively,  that  Is,  by  being  used  in  situations  where,  in  other  languages—  such  as 
Latin,  for  instance  —  the  Subjunctive  Mood  would  be  used,  the  intensive  part- 
icle is  omitted;  as  "  deir  se  go  mbiodh  se,"  he  says  that  he  used  to  be;  "deir 
se  go  gcuireadh  se,"  he  says  that  he  used  to  put.  In  the  present  tense,  which 
has  no  intensive,  the  verb  has  a  special  form  ending  in  -ann ;  "  deir  se  go 
gcuireann  se,"  he  says  that  he  puts.  In  the  irregular  verb,  there  is  a  special 
form  not  only  for  the  present  but  also  for  the  past  tense ;  thus  the  secondary 
form  of  "ta"  is  "fuil,"  and  the  secondary  form  of  "do  bhi"  is  "raibh";  as 
"  deir  se  go  bhfuil  se."  he  says  that  he  is;  "  deir  se  go  ralbh  se,"  he  says  that 
he  was.  This  secondary  form  of  the  tense  is  always  preceded  by  one  of  a 
class  of  seven  particles,  for  which  reason  it  has  been  appropriately  called  the 
ENCLITIC  form  of  the  verb.  It  is  sometimes  purely  subjunctive,  sometimes 
purely  indicative,  according  to  the  context. 

The  Past  Definite  of  the  regular  verb  has  no  enclitic  form,  hence  the  in. 
tensive  is  not  omitted;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  old  intensive,  'ro,'  reappears 
and  becomes  incorporated  with  the  preceding,  or  governing  particle;  as 
"  deir  se  gur  chuir  se,"  he  says  that  he  put  [for:  *  deir  se  go  ro  chuir  se.'  ] 

*The  relative  pronoun,  "  a,"  is  used  for  all  kinds  of  antecedents,  and  al- 
ways precedes  the  verb;  as  "  an  ghaoth  a  thig  o*n  lar,"  the  wind  that  comes 
from  the  West.  In  the  past  tenses,  the  relative  and  the  verbal  intensive  are 
not  used  together;  the  relative  alone  being  generally  used  with  the  irregular 
verb  and  the  intensive  alone  with  the  regular  verb.  But  when  the  verb 
begins  with  a  vowel  or  a  silent  consonant  (fh),  both  the  relative  and  intensive 
are  used;  as  "a  chuaidh  sios  go  h-ifreann,  a  d'  eirigh  an  treas  la  o  mharbhaibh 
achuaidh  suas  ar  neamh  "  [an  Chre.]  — who  descended  into  hell,  who  arose 
the  third  day  from  the  dead,  who  ascended  into  heaven;  "  an  spruilleach  do 
thuiteadh  de  bhord  an  duine  shaidhbhir  "  [Lucas,  XVI.,  21.]— the  crumbs  that 
fell  from  the  table  of  the  rich  man.  Some  irregular  verbs  resist  the  aspirat- 
ing influence  of  the  relative,  and  a  few  others  omit  it  altogether.  It  is  also 
elided  before  the  regular  verb  when  that  takes  the  relative  termination  -as; 
as  "  oir  an  talamh  shuigheas  an  f  hearthainn  thig  go  minic  air,  agus  do  bheir 
luibheanna  uaidh  theidh  i  dtairbhe  do'n  droing  shaothruigheas  e,  do  gheibh 
se  beannachto  Dhia"  [Eabhraidheach,  VI.,  7.]  — for  tlie  earth  which  absorbs 
the  rain  that  comes  often  upon  it,  and  which  bears  herbs  that  accrue  to  the 
profit  of  those  who  cultivate  it,  receives  a  blessing  from  God. 

When  the  relative  is  governed  (preceded)  by  a  simple  preposition,  there 


ORTHOGRAPHY. 


79 


tr^s  f  an  gcroidhe.  14.  Do  chuir     a  lamh  fan  J  a  cheann. 
15.  An  mbeiclh  an  la  so  breagh?    16.  Ni  bheiclh  —  beidh 
se  fliuch.     17.  Ca  bhfiiil  Caitilm?     18.  Ta  si  ann  so. 
19.  An  raibh  tii  ag  an  gcarraig?    20.  Ni  raibh  me,  acht 
do  bhi  Domhnall  O  Conaill  ann.    21.  Do  chruthuigh  Dia 
neamh  agus  talamh,    22.  Muna  bhfuil  tu  ceart,  bi  ciuin. 
23.  Na  bi  cruaidh  agus  na  bi  bog.    24.  Ta  Caitilin  cho 
glic  le  h-Eibhlin.    25.  Ta  bron  ar  mo  chroidhe,  oir  ta 
an  paiste  beag  marbh.    26.  Beannacht  De  len  a  h-anam. 
Ide  Ni  Dhalaigh,  an  paiste  beag  fionn, 
D'  fhuadaigh  an  bas  f  go  h-ard  os  ar  gcionn : 
D'  fhag  si  go  tlaith  sinn,  ag  tal  lacht  na  stil, 
A's  ta  si  go  sasta  i  n-arus  na  ndul. 


is  produced  a  compound  particle,  or  prepositional  relative,  which  has  the 
power  of  causing  eclipsis,  as  also  of  taking  the  enclitic  verb;  as  "duine 
riaghalta  ar  a  raibh  eagla  De  "  fGniomhartha,  X.,  2.  J—  a  devout  man  on  whom 
wr*s  the  fear  of  God.  When  the  governing  preposition  ends  in  a  vowel,  the 
relative  is  elided,  or  rather  assimilated  with  the  vowel  of  the  preposition, 
which  is  thereby  increased  in  quantity;  as  "briathra  Chriost,  le  gcomhair- 
light^ear  duinn,"  the  words  of  Christ,  by  which  we  are  counselled.  Some- 
times the  vowel  of  the  preposition  is  assimilated  with  the  relative;  as  "an 
fear  d'a  dtug  me  mo  leabhar,"  the  man  to  whom  I  gave  my  book.  The  pre- 
position i  is  completely  assimilated;  as  "  an  ait  a  bhfuil  se,"  the  place  where 
he  is for;  'an  ait  i  a  bhfuil  se,'  the  place  in  which  he  is.]  In  Munster,  the 
preposition  « ann '  is  generally  used,  for  emphasis,  instead  of  •  i,'  especially 
when  the  antecedent  of  the  relative  is  remote ;  as  "  na  creutuiri  do  bhi  'san 
fhairrge,  ann  a  raibh  anam  "  [Taisbeanadh,  VIII.,  9.],  the  creatui-es  that  were 
in  the  sea,  (and)  in  which  was  life.  When  the  interrogative  "  ca"  is  used,  the 
antecedent  noun  "  ait"  is  not  expressed,  and  the  relative  is  assimilated  with 
"ca";  as  "ca  a  ohfuil  se,"  or  "ca  bhfuil  se,"  where  is  he  [for:  'ca  h-ait  i  a 
blifuli  se,-  what  plact  in  which  he  is.] 

The  relative,  "  a,"  is  sometimes  used  as  a  compound  relative  (equivalent 
to  that- which,  those-who,  those-that)  including  both  the  antecedent  and  the 
relative.  When  thus  used,  it  is  governed  by  the  preposition  "  de,"  of,  and  the 
preceding  noun  must  be  taken  singly,  or  in  a  partitive  sense;  as  "acht  nior 
thuig  aon-neach  d'a  raibh  i  dtimcheall  an  bhuird  creud  fa  ndubhairt  se  so  ris" 
(Eoin,  XIII.,  29.; — but  not  one  of  (those)  who  were  around  Che  table  under- 
stood why  he  said  this;  "  gau  cromadh  ar  mhin-sgoith  d'a  mbi  'san  mhach- 
aire,  na  ar  bhlath  d'a  mbi  i  lubhghort"  (Dionbhrollach  Cheiting) —without 
stooping  to  a  (single)  flower  of  (those)  that  are  in  the  field,  or  a  (single)  blos- 
som of  (those)  that  are  in  the  garden.  When  the  preceding  noun  is  not  used 
singly  or  distributively,  but  collectively,  and  may  be  qualified  by  the  ad- 
jective "  gach,"  used  in  the  sense  of  'all'  or 'every'  (not 'each'),  it  is  usually 
not  expressed;  as  "a  bhfuair  bas  ded'  chineadh,"  all  that  died  of  your  kin. 
(for;  'gach  aon  d'a  bhfuair  bas,'  every  one  (all)  of  (those)  who  died,  etc.) 


80 


KEY  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  GAELIC. 


A    RULE    OF    GAELIC  ORTHOGRAPHY. 

We  have  already  seen  that  a  consonant,  in  Gaelic,  re- 
ceives its  sound  from  the  vowel  with  which  it  is  written. 
The  consonant  s,  for  example,  in  the  words  "seol,"  "siol,"' 
'^siar,"  is  slender,  because  followed  by  a  slender  vowel 
(i,  e)  ;  and  in  the  words  "  clais,"  "slis,"  "  dris,"  it  is  also 
slender,  because  preceded  by  a  slender  vowel  (i).  A  con- 
sonant may,  therefore,  be  influenced  by  either  the  preced- 
ing or  following  vowel. 

Now,  if  a  consonant  should  stand  between  two  vowels 
of  different  classes — one  broad  and  the  other  slender  — 
it  would  be  difficult  to  decide  whether  it  should  be  in- 
fluenced by  the  preceding  or  the  following  vowel.  Thus, 
in  the  word  "  drisog,"  if  the  medial  s  is  sounded  with  the 
following  o,  it  will  be  broad  (drissogue')^  and  if  sounded 
with  the  preceding  i,  it  will  be  slender  (drisliogue.')  Now, 
to  obviate  such  difficulties  as  this,  there  is  a  rule  of  Gael- 
ic Orthography,  which  requires  that  a  medial  consonant 
must  stand  between  two  vowels  of  the  same  class, 
that,  if  the  medial  s  in  "  drisog,"  is  slender,  it  must  ha\'.- 
a  slender  vowel  after  as  well  as  before  it;  thus  "  driseog," 
giving  rise  to  the  improper  diphthong  eo,  instead  o^  the 
single  vowel  o,  in  the  second  syllable.  In  short,  the  rule 
is  that  a  single  vowel  should  never  be  written  for  an  im- 
proper diphthong ;  and  vice  versa.    The  old  rule  says  : 

"Cuir  Gaol  le  Gaol  agus  Leathan  le  Lea^han." 


fWhen  any  one  of  the  seven  prepositions  *i,'  in,  'ann,'  in,  'go,'  to,  'iar,' 
after,  '1g,'  with,  'tar,'  across,  and  'tre,'  through,  is  compounded  vrith  the  defin- 
ite  article,  'an,'  there  is  inserted  betweeu  them  the  euphonic  consonant  s; 
■which  is  attached  to  the  preposition,  when  the  latter  is  written  out  analytic- 
ally. The  preposition  'i'  takes  s  also  before  the  distributive  pronoun  'gach'  ; 
as  "  is  gach  ait,"  in  every  place.  The  preposition  'tri,'  a  modern  corrupt  form 
of  'tre,'  changes  the  s  into  d;  as  "trid  an  muir  i-uaidh,"  through  the  Red  Sea. 

Some  of  these  compound  particles  have  the  n  of  the  article  quiescent,  ia 
colloquial  speech,  when  the  following  word  begins  with  a  consonant. 

X  When  any  one  of  the  seven  prepositions  'i,'  in,  'fa,'  under,  'go,'  to,'  'iar,' 
after,  'le,'  with,  'o,'  from,  and  'tre,'  through,  is  compounded  with  the  posses- 
sive pronoun,  of  the  third  person,  "a"  (his,  her,  its,  their),  the  euphonic  n  is 
inserted  between  them,  which  should  always  be  attached  to  the  preposition. 


END  OF  PART  I. 


pos  Tsc  \i  I  I*  r. 


Sw'et'i  Toiigue  of  our  dnii<ls  jind  l)<tr<]s  oi  j>:ist  ;<o»'s  ! 
.Svvept  Tongue  of  our  monai-elis,  our  saints,  and  our  s;io-os  ! 
Sv^eer  Tongae  ot  our  heroes  and  i'ree-iporn  sires, 
Wiien  we  cease  to  preserve  thee,  our  glory  expires  I 

—  Anonywoiin. 

"riieaiiga  mhiiis,  bhinn.  aosta  ar  qclt^iie  *s  ar  udmoithoadh  ! 
'  Theanga  rni«Uis  riogh  Eireaiiu  na  uaomh  a*s  na  saoitheadlil 
'  J'heangn  ndulis  ar  laooh  niear.  iiar  chlaon  riamh  le  daoithe, 
Ai-  gchi-iio  sin  eugtha,  nia  rhreigeam  thu  choidhchp  I 

—  Sea^hax  O  1>ala!<;h. 

As  a  sn^iii  contribution  to  the  renewed  elfoits  which 
are  being  made  in  the  United  States,  for  tlie  preservation 
of  the  Gaehc  or  Irish  Language,  the  present  treatise  is 
oli'ered  to  the  public,  with  the  conviction  that  it  will  re- 
ceive from  self-respecting  Irishmen  th«i  encf>rirHgement 
v.hieh  it  undoubtedly  deserves. 

Part  I,,  which  is  now  put  into  the  hf  nds  of  tlie  student, 
contains  a  good  deal  more  than  an  exposition  of  Gaeiie 
( )rthog]-apjiy  :  it  contains  some  important  rules  of  Ety- 
ni(jh>gy.  :ind  even  some  principles  of  Comparative  l^hilr^i- 
ogy.  S:;  :-..'«t  the  reader,  afte]*  stijdying  t})e  tivatis.-  ruvr- 
fuUv.  v'i^'  cthfe  ^0  read  and  trrif*-  fln^  Iri>ih  LinnfHthft' 
tritii  t'fiSi^,  ai;d  will  know  a  good  deal  about  its  affinilii's. 

'J'he  Council  respectfully  i(-<-)uest  the  individual  leath-r 
to  procui'e  as  many  new  subscribers  as  possible,  as  suirai^h* 
premiums  will  be  offered  for  circulating  the  work,  and 
thereby  spreii.-'i^g  a  knowledge  of  the  natioiial  tongue. 

Keujittances  are  to  be  sent  by  Money  Ordei*  or  by  (^]ie(dc 
an<t  made  )>ayable  to  Mr.  Ralph  J.  Hatemax,  Manage]-. 
Gaelic  SoIiomI.  11.51  Washinsfton  Sti'eet,  llostoii.  Mass. 


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